2011-09-24 - Word Play

While watching a TV show last week I came across an interesting phrase “You are not in a position to make demands”. I find this phrase interesting because it or variations of it are used quite commonly in film and television but it’s entirely wrong. In these situations the person trying to make demands is usually held hostage or otherwise imprisoned. The implication is that because they are being held that they can’t enforce any of their demands. There’s no reason for the person holding them to do what they say because they can’t do anything against them being they are in a cell or something. The problem is that the phrase doesn’t actually mean that.

To make a demand all you have to do is demand something. “I DEMAND CHIPS” is a demand regardless of the situation in which it’s used. People who are being held by other people usually demand to be let free or demand to be told why they are there which usually leads the person holding them to utter the phrase in question. Now the person is making demands and as such you can’t tell them they can’t make demands. If they weren’t in a position to be making demands you wouldn’t have been able to hear their demand and feel the need to reply that they aren’t able to make them. If someone was gagged or kept unconscious they wouldn’t be in a position to make demands because they couldn’t; however, the person holding them isn’t likely to say that they aren’t in a position to make demands because the person wouldn’t be making any.

The intended meaning of the statement has less to do with the person’s ability to make demands but more to do with the ability of the person to make successful demands. The person is being held captive so they don’t really have a lot of weight when it comes to negotiations. They can demand whatever they want but they aren’t really likely to ever get anything from it. One might use phrases like “You can make demands all you like, but no one’s going to do anything about them” or “Continue to make fruitless demands, you are just wasting your breath”. Something that makes it clear that you aren’t really interest in their demands but without denying something that they are clearly able to do. Alternatively you could just gag people and then tell them they can’t make demands.

I hope this helps you in your future kidnapping endeavours.