J.L. Austin must have attended a lot of meetings

However this is not enough to distinguish illocutionary acts, since we can for example warn or order or appoint or give protest or apologize by non-verbal means and these are illocutionary acts. Thus we may cock a snook or hurl a tomato by way of protest. --How to Do Things With Words, p. 119

 

Comments

[Abby]

How does one "cock a snook?"

[s]

Perlocutionary acts: “what we bring about or achieve by saying something, such as convincing, persuading, deterring, and even, say, surprising or misleading” (How to Do Things With Words, p. 109).

[dhawhee]

Abby, I think cocking a snook is a little like putting your thumb to your nose and waggling your other fingers, like kids do when they say "na na na na boo boo" or something. Right? As for what a snook actually is, I don't know, but I do love the phrase's sounds.

[Abby]

Oh totally with you on the sound of it. I'm going to try to work that into my everyday conversations. Not sure how yet. Maybe in a, "Oh, did you SEE that chick? She totally just cocked a snook at me."