byplays

I do not propose to consider this phenomenon here, since it could just as well be considered solely in terms of the dynamics of the engagement itself.3 Relevant, however, are those byplays that draw some of their membership from persons officially excluded from the dominant engagement, for here disloyalty is made visible to bystanders, and the doings of the betrayed engagement are “opened up,” to at least some of the nonparticipants present.

Behavior in Public Places ERVING GOFFMAN 1963

In many instances, these subordinate byplays involve only members of the dominant encounter, and involve them in such a way as not to broadcast to the company at large—to the situation—that disloyalty is occurring.

Behavior in Public Places ERVING GOFFMAN 1963

These byplays may be carried on relatively openly when they appear to be in the interests of the business at hand—as when a speaker quietly asks some questions of the chairman before turning to speak—or relatively furtively when byplay is patently not in the interests of the dominant interaction.

Behavior in Public Places ERVING GOFFMAN 1963

I have suggested that an individual can betray his encounter either by entering collusive byplays against it or by taking leave in a precipitous fashion.

Behavior in Public Places ERVING GOFFMAN 1963

In those situations where all participants are obliged to sustain a main involvement not only in the same kind of activity but in the same encounter, byplays and other minor mutual-involvements are by definition an illegitimate withdrawal from the dominant engagement.

Behavior in Public Places ERVING GOFFMAN 1963

They seem rather the incidental byplays and recreations of a fanry chiefly turned to sacred music of the larger forms.

Contemporary American Composers Being a Study of the Music of This Country, Its Present Conditions and Its Future, with Critical Estimates and Biographies of the Principal Living Composers; and an Abundance of Portraits, Fac-simile Musical Autographs, and Compositions Rupert Hughes 1914

Sometimes there would be a most effective and needed hit at the foibles of the times in his little byplays.

The Real Artemus Ward 1891

2 As might be expected, where an encounter must be sustained by persons unable to use their eyes to scan and monitor what is occurring, byplays employing physical acts become difficult to control and constitute a special threat to the integrity of the encounter.

Behavior in Public Places ERVING GOFFMAN 1963