Humans can be cryptic creatures to say the least. We say one thing when we mean the exact opposite, and expect our inflection, body language, and past knowledge of who we are to inform our conversation partner what we actually mean when we say something. Perhaps the biggest purveyor of this practice is when we say "it's fine," or "I'm fine," when what we really mean is "no, I am not going to help you bury that body, Todd. And I don't appreciate that you killed my cousin."
To understand what "fine" truly means, we must first understand that language is entirely arbitrary. I once had a wonderful, Communist professor tell my class "a 'tree' is not a tree. The only real tree is the object outside. 'Tree' is just a word assigned to that object, but it does not and will not become that object. They are entirely separate entities."
Now that we have established that "I'm fine" is essentially gibberish that we use in a desperate attempt to comprehend one another, it is important to grasp where that gibberish comes from.
The word "fine" comes from the Latin "Finis" which, along with several other meanings, essentially translates to "end." That translation makes a lot of sense when you consider it in relation to many other words that have "finis" as its root, such as "final" or "finale," but it says something much more interesting about the word "fine." We consider "fine" to be a state of being, not a state of ending, but that is, evidently, what it actually is. When Todd asks you to bury your cousin's body and you say "I'm fine." There is an implication of somewhat of an end, whether it is an end to the request, or an end to the conversation, but if Todd asks you how you are feeling after the body is buried and you say "I'm fine," the phrase takes on a totally different meaning. Somehow this word meaning "ending" has morphed in our society to imply the exact opposite. Now it is an invitation, or even a demand in some cases to pursue the conversation further. If someone says "I'm fine" it is widely known that, you moron, of course they aren't fine.
There really isn't much that can be done with this information, but, then again, there isn't much that can be done with any information. Language is an arbitrary institution, everything is a waste of time. Woo!
Court Mandated Pictures:
This is a tree, but it is not a "tree."
And this is just a bird.
