Editing Politeness (section)

==Techniques==
[[File:Southdown bus 199 (KUF 199F), 2009 Amberley Bus Day.jpg|thumb|A polite notice on the side of a bus that reads "please pay as you enter"]]
There is a variety of techniques one can use to seem polite. Some techniques include expressing uncertainty and ambiguity through [[Hedge (linguistics)|hedging]] and indirectness, polite lying or use of [[euphemism]]s (which make use of ambiguity as well as [[connotation]]). 

Additionally, one can use [[tag question]]s to direct statements, such as "You were at the store, weren't you?" There are three types of tags: modal tags, affective tags, and facilitative tags. Modal tags request information of which the speaker is uncertain: "You haven't been to the store yet, have you?" Affective tags indicate concern for the listener: "You haven't been here long, have you? Facilitative tags invite the addressee to comment on the request being made: "You can do that, can't you?" Finally, softeners reduce the force of what would be a brusque demand: "Hand me that thing, could you?"{{Cn|date=May 2024}}

Some studies<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book|last=Lakoff|first=R.|year=1975|title=Language and Woman's Place|location=New York|publisher=Harper & Row}}
|2={{cite book|last=Beeching|first=K.|year=2002|title=Gender, Politeness and Pragmatic Particles in French|location=Amsterdam|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company}}
}}</ref> have shown that women are more likely to use politeness formulas than men, though the exact differences are not clear. Most current research has shown that gender differences in politeness use are complex,<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book|last=Holmes|first=J.|year=1995|title=Women Men and Language|publisher=Longman}}
|2={{cite book|last=Mills|first=S.|title=Gender and Politeness|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2003}}
}}</ref> since there is a clear association between politeness norms and the stereotypical speech of middle class white women, at least in the UK and US. It is therefore unsurprising that women tend to be associated with politeness more and their linguistic behavior judged in relation to these politeness norms.