Mexico, Services, Indirect Signals

Absurd

In October 2024, during a session of the plenary of Mexico’s Supreme Court, Justice Lenia Batres said that it would be “absurdo” (absurd) to vote again on a question the court had already resolved. Chief Justice Norma Piña asked that such adjectives not be used in the plenary. (Video in Spanish.)

Batres answered that she knew of no rule that barred the word. The only limit, she said, was not to disrespect colleagues personally. She closed: “Respetuosamente, siempre, ministra” (Respectfully, always, Justice).

I Don’t Know

In 2022, the linguists Flores Treviño and González Salinas published a study of the phrase no sé, “I don’t know,” in the journal Onomázein. They analyzed 12 interviews from a corpus of spoken Spanish recorded in Monterrey. The most frequent use of no sé was to soften what the speaker said.

The authors describe it as a strategy that protects “la imagen de ambos dialogantes” (the face of both speakers).

Saying Yes Without Saying Yes

In 2017, the linguists José María Infante Bonfiglio and María Eugenia Flores Treviño, of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, published “Los que dicen que sí sin decir sí” (Those who say yes without saying yes), a study of softened speech by Mexican politicians.

One example is a politician asked whether he would run for mayor again. He answered: “no me puedo destapar, si me destapo me voy a congelar” (I cannot uncover myself, if I uncover myself I will freeze). To uncover oneself is to declare a candidacy. “Eludir es un modo de soslayar las intenciones reales” (Evading is a way of sidestepping one’s real intentions), they write.