Building on previous work predicated on the co-evolution of language and the brain, this article takes the view that (a) appropriate behavior – linguistic or otherwise – is adaptive; (b) from the standpoint of the speaker’s processing system, it is chiefly a matter of activating skills arising from background knowledge. This background knowledge should be seen as part of a decision-making process, as construed by Damasio (1994). The paper then provides a sketch of how appropriate behavior arises from the corresponding memory system. Following this, reasons are set for viewing linguistic appropriate behavior in terms of the same apparatus. The final section considers the implications of this adaptive perspective for the notion of context.