... if some spaghetti were put in front of you, then you would be pleased, and you have also communicated to the waitress an imperative for her to bring you a dish of spaghetti. The waitress has uttered a sentence that literally means the catfish tastes good tonight, and she has communicated to you that she disapproves of your choice of spaghetti and recommends you order the catfish instead. Philosophers have several ways of explaining this phenomenon of language. I will compare two important views on the matter: those of John Searle and Paul Grice. First, why do indirect speech acts even exist in the first place? Searle proposes that the main reason for indirect speech acts is that they appear to be more polite. It's not abundantly clear how this condition came about, but one potential explanation is that indirect speech acts often seem to give the illusion of more choices ...

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