In this paper we investigate the concepts of 'face' and 'politeness'. We introduce a metalanguage which we believe is a framework for simplifying the analysis of 'face' and 'politeness'. This metalanguage is based on the observation that both 'face' and 'politeness' involve external evaluations of people. This common element is represented in the metalanguage as "what A shows A thinks of B" and "what B thinks A thinks of B". The implications of the metalanguage for the analysis of Chinese mian and lian ('face') and English face are then discussed. This is followed by an analysis of examples of politeness in English and teineisa/reigi-tadashisa ('politeness') in Japanese. We conclude that the metalanguage may be further developed for use in comparisons of 'face' and 'politeness' across cultures. Biographical note: Carl Hinze has completed his PhD in the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland. His research interests are the semantics of 'face' across cultures, and more generally sociolinguistics. Michael Haugh has also completed his PhD in the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland. His research interests are politeness and implicature, and more generally cross-cultural pragmatics. 2 (2003) Journal of Pragmatics 35, 10/11: 1581Pragmatics 35, 10/11: -1611 rather than faithfully adhering to the complex theoretical principles of the NSM. Although the metalanguage we are using in this paper is English, the words that we employ in the metalanguage are semantically simple, and therefore readily translatable across languages.It should be noted that we are not proposing the basis for a model of interpersonal interaction. 3 We will not be using the metalanguage to describe in detail the complicated cognitive and behavioural processes that constitute an interaction. Nor are we attempting to describe how 'face' and 'politeness' are co-constructed in interactions. Our intention is to apply the metalanguage in such a way as to create a simple architecture, on the one hand, for analysing the Chinese concepts of mianzi and lian, and the English concept of face, and on the other hand, for explicating politeness in English and Japanese conceptualisations of 'politeness' such as teineisa and reigi-tadashisa.Before outlining a detailed explanation of the metalanguage, let us develop a hypothetical example. Michael already has an established friendship with Carl, and following from this Michael has the notion of "what Michael thinks Carl thinks of Michael". Michael has developed this notion on the basis of Carl's previous behaviour towards Michael. Carl has treated Michael's work with the respect that is to be expected from an academic colleague.