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.