Much attention has been paid to a characterization of indirect requests in terms of general, rigid speech acts or broadly defined cultural patterns. Conversely, the cognitive roots of indirect requests and their realizations as linguistic constructions have received little attention. This is all the more problematic as linguists have thus left aside frequent situations in which the subtle form/meaning interplay made possible by some directive constructions echoes the ad hoc construction/negotiation of interactants' identities. This is particularly conspicuous when the specific role of each interactant is unclear or unconventional, and therefore subject to momentary negotiation. Pseudo-directive constructions provide a good case in point insofar as they occur when Speaker attempt to get someone to do something without giving the impression of impinging upon Addressee's self-assessment that s/he has a freedom of choice. One efficient (i.e. face-saving) strategy consists in blending a covert coding of Speaker's authority and an overt coding of Addressee's freedom of non- compliance into the same construction. This can be successfully achieved by using the