Residents of a locale drop public performance for relaxed backstage behavior.

Evidence

Throughout Western society there tends to be one informal or backstage language of behavior, and another language of behavior for occasions when a performance is being presented. The backstage language consists of reciprocal first-naming, cooperative decision-making, profanity, open sexual remarks, elaborate griping, smoking, rough informal dress, “sloppy” sitting and standing posture, use of dialect or sub-standard speech, mumbling and shouting, playful aggressivity and “kidding,” inconsiderateness for the other in minor but potentially symbolic acts, minor physical self-involvements such as humming, whistling, chewing, nibbling, belching and flatulence. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 723

Categorization

• DEFINE: Goffman’s ‘backstage language’ as a defined concept — the key observable marker distinguishing colonists from mere passers-through in public space.
• XREF: Connects to the blasé attitude / detachment theme of the reading purpose: backstage ease is the opposite of the alert, armored observation of the flâneur.