Stephanie and I were talking at lunch today. In the middle of a story, I stumbled over the correct way to grammatically state something, and I had to stop and say it both ways until I figured out that I said it correctly the first time.
Trying to be funny I restated my communication, but lost the whole discussion:
I won't repeat exactly what I said because, well...It didn't sound good at all...even though I was saying the same thing a different way.
The point is this: There are right ways to say things and wrong ways. This is determined by several factors. Your clarity of verbal communication. Your clarity of nonverbal communication. And MOST importantly, the listener's understanding of your communication.
We can't communicate well until we understand how people understand what we are saying. Semantic range within culture and locale is very important. For example, here in the USA, asking for a napkin at the dinner table is normal. In London, this would be quite unexpected and rude. Same word, different meanings.
Funny thing is that this happens all the time, and IMHO is the reason behind most miscommunications.
No comments:
Post a Comment