Don’t Deny, Imply.

Implicit is an interesting word. Explicit in that sentence is that the word is interesting. Implicit in the sentence is that I know it is and you now know I know it is, and I also think you don’t know it is and need to be told, and I think I’m the right person to tell you. You get the picture. There’s a whole raft of implicit givens that, though they are not the object of some utterance are carried along with it un-noticed. Well not consciously. Have you ever had a conversation where you can do nothing but agree with the content yet also hold a deeper inclination to punch the person in the face? It’s usually the hidden iceberg if implicits rancouring your unconscious. Even the innocuous “Have a nice day” implies you might not if the other person doesn’t tell you to; that when their instruction wears off you need to come back for another coffee to perk up your meagre powers of enjoying life. I’m not talking about the explicit, “Lynx will get you laid”, but rather the implicit, “You are so unattractive without it you will spend your life alone with only internet porn to brighten your evenings. Or alcoholicly, “you are incapable of having a good time without being shit faced on Carlsberg.” Then there’s questions. “Have you ever thought of….” may be a helpful provocation to expand your cognitive processing but it might also hold an implicit, “Well I have and you haven’t. I win.” All rhetorical questions are implicit. “Is that the telephone?” is rarely an inquiry about inconclusive hearing, it’s a statement that, “I’m too lazy to get off my fat arse to answer it so you do it.” But beware. Implicitude also occurs in one’s hearing too. One can imply all manner of meanings that weren’t there in the first place. It’s rather like captaining the Titanic. How, when much of one’s own bulk is underwater, does one steam through icebergs, who’s bulk is also largely underwater, to successfully arrive in New York? Answers on a postcard.