The article deals with the etiquette features of speech behavior in the well-known categories of "directness" and "indirectness". The general rules of correlation between direct and indirect communication manifest themselves in a special way in the case of the functioning of etiquette systems: any possible indirect communication (including polite indirect statements) does not go beyond the optional meanings, additional to the main etiquette meanings, always expressed directly. The formulas of speech etiquette, which have entered the language, form one of the numerous semiotic, limited subsystems within an unlimited, semantic system - natural human language.
