There’s always that one person (Guest A) who feels the need to bring up a controversial topic every year at Thanksgiving dinner. Most of the times nobody really addresses it because they either don’t want to offend the person, they don’t want to make the situation worse, they simply just don’t want to get involved, etc.  But, if another person (Guest B) wanted to interfere and attempt to indirectly change the topic, they might violate one (or some) of Grice’s maxims of conversation.  Guest B may violate the maxim of relation by saying something like, “Oh wow, this Turkey is really good- you made this yourself?!” to the chef, seeing as how the food that was served is in no way related to the topic at hand.  Guest B may also simultaneously violate the maxim’s of quality and relation by saying something like “I could really go for a dip in the pool! Would anybody care to join me?”.  Considering the time of year, most people have closed their pools because of how cold it is- so I doubt that anyone would be going for a dip in their pool after Thanksgiving dinner.  This would also violate the maxim of relation because it would have nothing to do with the topic that was brought up, comment that was made, etc.  By making statements or asking questions which violate any/all of Grice’s maxims of conversation, Guest B would be indirectly making Guest A aware that the conversation is making them uncomfortable and that it is unwanted.  This would (hopefully) lead Guest A to drop it and move on to another conversation, without having to be explicitly told.

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