Complainable Matters: The Use of Idiomatic Expressions in Making Complaints - article ; n°1 ; vol.8, pg 109-143

Paul Drew, Elisabeth Holt

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Réseaux - Année 1990 - Volume 8 - Numéro 1 - Pages 109-143
35 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: RESEAUX
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1990
• Nombre de lectures: 13
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Paul Drew
Elisabeth Holt
Complainable Matters: The Use of Idiomatic Expressions in
Making Complaints
In: Réseaux, 1990, Hors Série 8 n°1. pp. 109-143.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Drew Paul, Holt Elisabeth. Complainable Matters: The Use of Idiomatic Expressions in Making Complaints. In: Réseaux, 1990,
Hors Série 8 n°1. pp. 109-143.
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/reso_0984-5372_1990_hos_8_1_3535COMPLAINABLE MATTERS :
THE USE OF IDIOMATIC
EXPRESSIONS IN MAKING
COMPLAINTS *
Paul Drew, Elisabeth Holt
University of York, England
In a study we are making of the occurence in ordinary talk of
idiomatic, cliched and proverbial expressions - that is, expressions
which are recognisably formulaic and largely figurative- two clusters
of use are appearent. In one, idioms, etc.1 can occur when a speaker is
praising or extolling, or reporting something especially pleasurable,
exciting and the like. For example in this extract Nancy is reporting to
Emma-having met just last evening a particularly eligible man : and in
describing how well they got along, she describes them as having
been "talking up a storm".
(c) Paul Drew, Elisabeth Holt 1 10 Complainable Matters
(1) [NB:11:4:14]
Nancy : He's fifty two :,
Emma : Mm hm :,
I
Nancy : *hhhh mBut he:'s jw:st a ri\ (.) dear Ji (0.4)
ni:ce:: (0.2) gu:y. Ji-st a ni:l: ril n-ice guy.
I
Emma: *We:ll:'goo ::d
Nancy : hh hh So we w'r rilly talkin up a sto:rm en: t havin a r.U
g'd time...
Alternatively, another major cluster involves idioms being used
when making critical assessments in the environment of complaining
about one's treatment, somebody's behaviour, etc. An instance occurs
in the following extract from a group therapy session in a British
mental hospital : the therapist (Dr) has been questioning one of the
patients ; Pam, intervenes.
(2) (MH:Therapy:1972)
Dr.: Were you upset afterwards?
George: No. (1.0) No.
Dr.: So you eat at
I
Pam: ( )
Dr.: the convalescent home something you knew
would normally upset you. What was that?
Pam: Rome wasn't built in a day. Trym to keep myself
awake tryin to keep myself ( )
I
Dr. : Well er the eesist way to do it can you
hear what George was saying?
Pam: Saying that he wants to go home that he eats bacon for dinner
and::: (.)? ((clears throat)) (4.0) I think he should be at home
doing it-
Dr.: Well that was he saying though.
Pam: I don't remember exactly=
Dr.: =So you can't have been listening. What was he saying Cathy? Drew, Elisabeth Holt 111 Paul
The transcription shows that Pam said something interruptively
in Dr's utterance, although what she said cannot be made out from the
recording ; so also it is apparent when he asks her "What was that?"
that the doctor heard her say something but not what that was. In her
reply she uses the proverbial expression "Rome wasn't built in a day",
and in so doing formulates a complaint2 about the therapist's persitent
cross-questioning of Jim, the point of her interrupting to complain
being explained when she continues : "Tryin to keep myself awake
tryin to keep myself ( )".
In the collection which we have made of the use of idiomatic
and other formulaic expressions in naturally occurring talk - mostly in
ordinary conversations, but also in more limited data from
institutional settings such as psychotherapeutic sessions, business
negotiations, medical consultations, calls to suicide prevention
agencies and so forth - the overwhelming majority of instances of
such expressions occur in the kind of environment illustrated in
extract(2), that is in making criticisms which amount to complaining
about someone or something. In this paper we focus on this most
frequent use of idioms, cliches, etc. As is general in conversation
analysis, our aim is to uncover the sequential/interactional work being
managed in a given conversational phenomenon, here idioms, etc. ;
with this in view, we shall be considering here how idioms may be
employed 1. to formulate something as a complainable matter, 2. to
try to gain, or to display, affiliation with the complaint, and 3. as
terminal objects in complaint sequences.
The use of idioms to formulate complaints
In our data we find idioms being used in complaining about
many diverse matters, some of which are illustrated in the following
extracts. In the first, Lottie has just mentioned (not reproduced), in a
derogatory way, a notable hotel at which she was recently taken to
dinner ; at which point Emma reciprocally tells about her and her
husband's (Brad) experience at the same hotel.
(3) [NB:IV:10:36]
Emma: Wl you know we were there in /u:ne yhihknow Bud played
go.7/inna (.) w'n the air conditioner went o::fflh *hhh En wir
bout (.)th'oanee ones that hard'n air conditioned room the rest 1 12 Complainable Matters
of m were broken. *hhh An'we went down duh brekfiss 'n
there wz oanee abou' two people duh help fer brekňss with all
these guys goina plary goM. They w'r a:ll teed o:ff :.
Lottie: Ye мА?
I
Emma: Весит (.) *uy* Bud u-c'dn e.Vn eat iz orekfisL
He o.rdered he waited forty five mmutes'n Ae'a:dtuh be out
there duh tee off so I gave it to uh: (.) Karen's: liddle bo:y.
(0.7)
Emma: ((swallow)) I mean that's how bad the service was;h*hh
(.) Vťs gahn duh poť
Lottie: mu-Oh:::' (.) e-Y e : : a h . Ye<
t
Emma: *But it's a* be auti-ful godf 'course*.
In complaining that the service was so slow that her husband's
breakfast arrived only after he'd had to leave to play golf, she
describes the hotel/service as having "gone to pot". In the next extract
a patient, in describing to a doctor the headaches he's been
experiencing, complains that they hurt "more than the devil in hell".
(4) [AN2Jewitt]
Dr.: *hhhh Гт sure: Doctor: Macphale:s; right (.) Гт sure that
these heardaches:: yer gettin are:: er:: associated with a bit of
arthritus :
(0.5)
Dr.: in yer er.:(0.7) in yer neck(.)really (.) more than your spine:::
eran: (.) *hh I mean more than your lower spine it's the in
your neck th-ats causin the:::
P: is it
P: it seems to be he:re:: anywa y:
[ [
Dr.: the problem that's correct
(0.2)
Dr.: yes mhhh
(3-2)
P: that I could understood (.) because it (.) it's the headaches:
was the thing thats: got me
(0.4) Drew, Elisabeth Holt 1 1 3 Paul
P: (more than anything else)
(1.2)
P: more than the devil in hell because they were gettin more or
less (.) permanent yer know::
(1.2)
P: they were coming even when I was never pain in the back of
my neck
(28.0)
Dr.: *hhhhhhh right: well Г11 tell what we'll do mister Tarrett (.)
Г11 give...
In extract (5) A is complaining about a crummy pay rise she's
been given, in the context of which she reports saying to someone at
work, in response to that person's attempt to justify the deal, that it
doesn't "cut a godamn bit of ice" with her, and further adds that if her
company don't like her taking an hour for lunch they can "take a
flying screw at the moon".
(5)
A: <ah:(1.0) tell: you dopey:, ahm dsho: ghowd damn ma:d (.) I
khant see stratght.>
<•)
B: hmm.
A: *tchhh So then: (.) y'u know = I ws sayin sumin tu Lee
Scha«:fer about it, and Lee: sai:d, (.) Well, she sauf, Ь - that -
five an a ha'f per ssenH, (.)*hhh
()
A: an:/ : said, u:ell I: dun Ano:w, I guess it »:z:.
(0.4)
A: ""hhh* So,- yTcnow:,- (.5) they stuc* ri:ght to that five an a
naff per cent deal.
(0.6)
A: "chh'an aye: said <fcouht ah'll tell: yu one: thing. I: sai:d>
>tha:t doesnt cut< a ga:damn bida ey:ce with me:
(0.4)
A: *hh I said /tint of a:ll I said they've seen the end of my ten:our
daize (.) an ma ra:n:e hour daize
(0.3) 14 CompUúnable Matters 1
В: oh: you damn right
О
A: an: aye sadd thfy.kn goadu fell = ahm takiri an hour fur
lunurAQ an if they: don li:Jke it, an I: dont intend tu са:Г um an
tellum whe:re >hell: - 1: - am?< they can take a flying = you
know, screw at thu mhoo:n.=
The participants in the following extract are someone who is
selling a house (Shirley), and a representative (Dene) acting on behalf
of a third party who is trying to buy the house. Shirley has called to
confirm that she accepts the claim by her agents (Moss and Company)
that they sent Ilene some relevant documents, which Ilene has
contested (in a previous conversation), and here continues to contest,
complaining that arguing with the agents is like "banging your head
against a brick wall".
(6) [Her:OI:l:2-3]
Ilene: *hhh We've checked now on all the paypize'e has *hh an'
Moss'n Company said they wuh sent through the pos' we
have had n:nof /ring fr'm Moss'n Comp'ny through the post.
(0.3)
Ilene: Anyway, (.) TAa:ť