Cut it out! how to avoid saying ‘hello’

Summary

To ‘cut someone’ is an old English technique of avoiding having to say hello to someone you know. (The behaviour is still very much in fashion, but is these days more often known as ‘blanking’.) It is a form of dismissal that lies firmly in the realm of the typical ‘English social dis-ease’, as the anthropologist Kate Fox terms the awkwardness with which people almost at any cost avoid having anything to do with anyone else. There you are, walking down the high street and minding your own business when suddenly, coming straight towards you, is someone you know but don't wish to say hello to, let along have a chat with. What a nuisance! What is required is decisive action in the form of a cut.

Most sources describe four different ways of cutting someone:

The cut direct is by far the most flagrant snub. Chancing upon a person you know in the street, you simply stare the person straight in the face without the slightest show of recognition. This takes both guts and practice.

The cut indirect means turning your head away and looking at something that is apparently of intense interest to you, thus ‘not seeing’ the obnoxious person. This type of cut has an added benefit in that it gives you the opportunity to let the other person know that you are in fact making a cut.