Non Sequitur in Everyday Speech
See also: Derailment (thought disorder)In everyday speech, a non sequitur is a statement in which the final part is totally unrelated to the first part, for example:
Life is life and fun is fun, but it's all so quiet when the goldfish die. —West with the Night, Beryl MarkhamIt can also refer to a response that is totally unrelated to the original statement or question:
Mary: I wonder how Mrs. Knowles next door is doing.Jim: Did you hear that the convenience store two blocks over got robbed last night? Thieves got away with a small fortune.
Read more about this topic: Non Sequitur (logic)
Famous quotes containing the words everyday and/or speech:
“A really tight friendship is when you start to really care about the person. If he gets sick, you kind of start worrying about him—or if he gets hit by a car. An everyday friend, you say, I know that kid, he’s all right, and you don’t really think much of him. But a close friend you worry about more than yourself. Well, maybe not more, but about the same.”
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“True and false are attributes of speech not of things. And where speech is not, there is neither truth nor falsehood. Error there may be, as when we expect that which shall not be; or suspect what has not been: but in neither case can a man be charged with untruth.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)