Nice as a cultural keyword: The semantics behind Australian discourses of sociality

Abstract

This chapter investigates the English word nice as a cultural keyword, around which sociality discourses revolve. Focusing on its semantic scope in Australian discourse, the keyword nice has an important story to tell about socially accepted and approved ways of thinking, communicating and behaving. Oftentimes nice has been trivialised, or even ridiculed as an “empty word”, but closer scrutiny reveals that nice has all the characteristics of a cultural keyword. It is frequent and foundational in Australian discourse, and it reflects cultural logics, values and orientations. Also, as is common with cultural keywords, nice lacks translational equivalents, even in closely related languages. A comparison with French gentil demonstrates how nice is distinctive in the way it organises and maintains specific discursive orders.