Politeness and Impoliteness

In the Panda Zoo on Liugong Island, Weihai, a sign notes that “I don’t like snacks; I don’t want to get fat; please don’t feed me!”, with a cute panda image attached below. From Chap. 5 , we get to know that this cute sign carries the same illocutionary force of warning the tourists not to feed the pandas. The seemingly unnecessary personifications of disliking snacks and fearing of getting fat are, in fact, implemented for being polite and creating a rapport environment for the tourists. For the same reason, people usually choose to say Could you please close the window?, instead of blatantly ordering someone by saying Close the window! Moreover, apologizing to others clearly reflects a person’s level of education because it is conventionally considered as a polite way of reacting.