It is suggested that the literature on communicative competence, replete with various formulations, mirrors the diversity of language outlined by Martin Joos in his essay "The Five Clocks." Three concepts of communicative competence are reviewed, in historical perspective. The first, promoted by Norm Chomsky, distinguished linguistic competence from linguistic performance. Dell Hymes, as with Chomsky, took a position separating that which is known from that which is experienced. The second concept of communicative competence involved the information-theory model of communication. Scholars of interpersonal communication claimed that competence could be measured in audiences and concluded that a speaker had to be competent to be believed. Those in the field of relational communication, such as John Wiemann, viewed communication competence as a performance-based concept. In Wiemann's data, the competent communicator was the metacommunicating communicator who adapted wisely to context. The third concept of communicative competence centered around speech competencies. As opposed to those researchers who have been concerned with kinds of competence, the teacher of speech communication has been concerned with what competencies the students should have at the completion of an instructional term. It is concluded that a theory of communicative competence is perhaps not as useful as a theory about the working of context. It is also suggested that the term communicative competence is only useful as it helps with specifiable educational or research goals. (HOD)