Unshun/reshun

[Alexey86]

What do "unshun" and "reshun" mean in this fragment from "The Office" (0.09 - 0.18)?

I've only found the meaning of "shun": to ignore someone and not speak to that person because you cannot accept their behaviour, beliefs, etc. (The Cambridge Dictionary). Does Dwight mean "Ignore Andy and listen to me" by "unshun" and "Andy, you may continue speaking" by "reshun"? I'm perplexed.

 

[emsr2d2]

By "unshun" he means that he is temporarily lifting his shunning of Andy in order to reply to his question. As soon as he has answered Andy's question, he "reshuns" him (he puts the shun back in place). He does the same again the next time Andy speaks.
Note that neither word exists in English.

 

[Alexey86]

As soon as he has answered Andy's question, he "reshuns" him (he puts the shun back in place).

I've noticed you used "shun" as a noun, but dictionaries show it only as a verb.

 

[SoothingDave]

I learned from TV a British phrase for this is to "send someone to Coventry." I don't know how popular the expression is.

 

[PeterCW]

The use of shun / unshun is an invention by the writer for comic effect based on the concept of like / unlike in social media. It is quite common for writers to invent expressions in this way, look up "catchphrase".

"Send to Coventry" is a well known expression which I hadn't heard for a while. I think in another five or ten years we might be labelling it as "old fashioned".

 

[emsr2d2]

I've noticed you used "shun" as a noun, but dictionaries show it only as a verb.

Sorry. That was my mistake. I thought I had heard "shun" used as a noun in a documentary about the Amish. However, having checked, I can see that it is only a verb. My use of "his shunning" was, however, correct as that is the associated noun. I'm not sure why I didn't use it the second time.

 

[Skrej]

If you're not familiar with Dwight and his family, then it may not make as much sense.

The practice of 'shunning' is a very real practice among the Amish and similar religious groups such as the Old Order Mennonites. In the show, Dwight and his extended family are portrayed as some kind of pseudo-Pennsylvania Dutch. It was always strongly hinted that they might have Amish roots, but never explicitly stated whether or not they were actually practicing some offshoot branch of Amish beliefs. The show doesn't really play up on the religious beliefs per se, but most of the family speak some German, wear overalls and simple clothes, run a farm in northeastern Pennsylvania (Amish country) and sport full beards without mustaches, much like the Amish.

The whole gag with Dwight "shunning, unshunning, and reshunning" Andy is yet another oblique reference to the Amish. Of course part of the gag is that even if you are Amish, you can't shun someone who isn't Amish. Additionally, it's funny because part of shunning involves even the immediate family not speaking to the shunned person, yet Dwight is shunning/unshunning/reshunning just for the very purpose of speaking to Andy.

 

[Tdol]

"Send to Coventry" is a well known expression which I hadn't heard for a while. I think in another five or ten years we might be labelling it as "old fashioned".

People were sent to Coventry when I was a child- they get cancelled nowadays.