People do not use the same words in the same way, which is especially obvious in expert/non-expert or child/adult interactions, for example, but also true in general. We all bring different experiences to any conversation; different previous interactions, different cultural backgrounds, different physiologies and different social communities. This means that we never share the “same” language as anybody else.

This means that mismatches between our takes on a conversation (at all levels, from pronunciation, to word meaning, to inferences) are not the exception, but the norm. The ability to deal with these mismatches on the fly underpins successful communication. 

In this talk, I will look at some ways that the same pragmatic resources and mechanisms that we need in order to resolve mismatches can be exploited for various ends, such as humour, confrontation, or deceit.