Advantage Dilbert: Amber vulnerable to implicature
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Dilbert continues to make progress in learning about conversational implicature and what you can do with it:
Dilbert is a rather slow learner in matters like pragmatics and social relations, but he rapidly realizes his advantage here. He has a chance not just to offend Amber via conversational implicature, but in addition he realizes that simply by talking to Wally he can convey to her a specific proposition about what he thinks is wrong with her, retaining full deniability. (You always get plausible deniability with conversational implicature. That's one of its key marketing features.)
I would agree that Dilbert is being mean to Amber, by the way; I'm no defender of meanness in the workplace. But after all, she is already mounting a campaign against him. There's a self-defense argument here. Or at least, a you-started-it defense.
[Comments are closed to avoid meanness in the workplace.]