Genre Savey

Biblical interpretation / life is about knowing in which genre you are functioning. Of course, there are problems between genres (prophetic and apocalyptic) or problems knowing what the characteristics of a genre are (issues with the prophetic genre have sparked more than one debate in dispensationalism)

Same is true in life: Understanding which genre you are in (joking or request) makes a big difference. Sometimes we intentially ride the fence because we want to make the request, insult, instruction, or point but are scared, inhibited, realize we don't have the right, or tactful. So, we make it possible for the listener to interpret as a joke. ("You are really gifted at stacking dirty dishes" could mean "Wash the dishes!") We call people naive if they can't tell the difference between joking and narrative ("Jenny lost three toes in a motorcycle accident over the weekend" when she has never been on a motorcycle). When you frame an utterance with genre rules, you understand it a particular way. When you use other genre rules, you understand it another way. Who picks the genre?

We can use "naive" for someone who doesn't pick the right genre - "right" is defined by the community (in life or biblical interpretation). It isn't just a simple majority nor one with super-delegates. Normally everybody understands the well-established expectations. Only on genre boundary-lines (or other locations of ambiguity) are rhetorically persuasive reasons necessary.