The Good Manners and the Importance of Polite Speech in the Modern World

Polite speech may have had an important role in the past, but it has found itself

marginalized in today’s society. An anthropologist studying first-year students in the United States found that friendly phrases communicate politeness rather than literal meaning. Findings like this have started to make people question whether polite speech is even useful in any context anymore. Despite arguments to the contrary, polite speech is important because it establishes a prosperous environment in the workplace.

Initially, polite speech establishes a prosperous workplace environment by ensuring a peaceful work setting. To be clear, friendly speech maintains positive relationships between employees. Simple phrases like “Nice to meet you.” or “How are your kids?” make people feel appreciated and comfortable in their place of work since they show that others are care about them as a person and not just as a worker. This increase in morale makes a worker feel more motivated to do their job than if they were just ignored by others. Also, friendliness amongst workers means that there are no problems with having different people work together since everyone is on good terms with each other. Thus, polite speech is important because it establishes a workplace environment that people can feel comfortable in, and this leads to an increase in productivity and worker synergy. In short, polite speech creates a tranquil work setting which leads to a successful workplace overall.

Additionally, polite speech establishes a prosperous workplace environment because it makes people feel respected. Specifically, people feel that someone who uses polite phrases with

them does so because they hold them in high esteem. Many parts of friendly speech like “How are you?” have essentially become formalities in the modern world. However, the fact that someone would go through such formalities for them shows people that the other person respects them because they bother to do it at all. If someone did not respect their coworker, then they would not even waste time with pleasantries and ignore them or be rude. The fact that they take the effort to use such marginalized phrases shows that they hold their coworkers in high regard and respect them as an individual. A person who feels respected is also likely to want to work harder to prove that they deserve to be held in such high standing which again increases worker productivity. Therefore, polite speech is important because it makes others feel respected and causes efficiency and effort to increase. All in all, friendly speech makes people feel respected and creates a flourishing workplace as a result.

On the other hand, some people believe that polite speech is unimportant because it is meaningless. In other words, they believe that friendly phrases simply communicate politeness rather than literal intent. This is misguided because these people do not understand that a phrase does not need to have literal intent to have meaning. If someone says “Let’s get in touch.”, they may not mean that they actually want the other person to get in contact with them, but the fact that they said it communicates that they value the other person and what they have to offer. Polite speech may not communicate literal meaning, but it does communicate more abstract concepts like respect and kindness. Someone choosing to use this speech at all suggests that they want to be nice and to show the other person that they care. Thus, polite speech is important because it communicates more than just a literal message. To sum up, people who believe that polite speech is not important are incorrect because the abstract concepts that such speech conveys are incredibly significant and impactful.

To conclude, polite speech is important because it establishes a prosperous work

environment. It accomplishes this by communicating respect and concern to coworkers. Although some may say that such friendly speech is unimportant because it lacks literal

meaning, they are wrong because the deeper messages it conveys make a big impression. Polite

speech may be just a formality in the modern world, but these friendly phrases convey far more than the words may suggest.