I feel ruefully sure, also, that one must be at least one sort of fool to rush in over ground so well trodden by the angels.
J. L. AustinInfelicity is an ill to which all acts are heir which have the general character of ritual or ceremonial, all conventional acts.
J. L. AustinA sentence is made up of words, a statement is made in words.... Statements are made, words or sentences are used.
J. L. AustinNext, 'real' is what we may call a trouser-word. It is usually thought, and I dare say usually rightly thought, that what one might call the affirmative use of a term is basic--that, to understand 'x,' we need to know what it is to be x, or to be an x, and that knowing this apprises us of what it is not to be x, not to be an x. But with 'real' (as we briefly noted earlier) it is the negative use that wears the trousers.
J. L. Austin