Talk is cheap

Putting aside questions of truth and falsehood, the old "talk is cheap" maxim carries as much weight as ever before. Indeed, perhaps more. For one need not be an expert in irony or sarcasm to realize that people don't necessarily mean what they say. Phrases such as "Yeah, right" and "I could care less" are so much a part of how we speak - and how we live - that we are more likely to notice them when they are absent (for example, Forrest Gump). From our everyday dialogues and conversations ("Thanks a lot!") to the screenplays of our most popular films (as in Pulp Fiction), what is said is…