How do we communicate?

Duck59 said:
A further observation, more to do with accents and pronunciation. I'm reasonably good at spotting accents and one thing you learn is that New Zealanders and Canadians always like it when you don't mistake them for an Aussie or a Yank...

No offence intended to those of that ilk, of course.
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I found being in foreign countries uk Canada France Hawaii I only got good comments on being a kiwi, in France I knew a bit of the language and they appreciated that and forgave mispronounced words. The French love the all blacks.
In Asia I got taken for Australian every time.

Russ
 
Duck59 said:
I remember going to a cricket World Cup game and chatting to a Kiwi on the way to the ground. His shirt bore the legend, "I support New Zealand and whoever's playing Australia." That seemed reasonable to me.
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It's kinda true, we really love each other, I usually spend some winter time over there every winter. I love the GC. (Gold coast) but there is rivalry in rugby and cricket,lol.

Russ
 
My mother took evening college classes and eventually got her Bachelors in Psychology.
When she retired from Disney mom did family counseling. This back when you didn't want anyone to know this. Not like today. Back then it was all confidential and taboo. She was popular with the gay community too.

Mom rented a little office, warmed it up and placed a couch out of sight, a rocking chair she sat in next to a big window looking out to excellent landscape.
People walking by would wonder what da? Who is that sweet old lady in the rocking chair all day and evening?

Mom called it "not being able to read smoke signals" when couples had communication problems. I learned any criticism I have for my wife is best not ever said. I've been good at that. Blew it once or twice but it was minor and I learned from it.

What irritates my wife and she is a girl that never has a bad day and a woman of few words or emotion, is when I ask: "Anything I need to know about? Anything ya wanna tell me?"

That lights her fuse.

"Are Friday nights for the boyfriends and Saturday nights for the husbands? -Evidently that wasn't funny either.
 
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Communicating is not always easy, no matter how you decide to do it, that's for sure.
How does the listener or reader perceive what we have said or written or what we wanted to get across to them? These are two situations that are definitely connected and it is difficult to escape from them.
Sometimes I come up against rubber walls that simply choose not to understand. As well as being frustrating, I also find it a waste of time trying to explain further something that one has chosen not to understand and is not really listening to.
I no longer have the strength to give too many explanations. But I know that I will never really become a rubber wall because then the need to clarify prevails. I will never get out of it, I'm afraid!
 
My historian friend, who has spent much of her life in academia, is an amiable type with an admirably stable temperament. However, the modern tendency of universities to lapse into inane gibbering corporate-speak drives her up the wall. As she recently remarked to me in an email, since when did colleges stop educating and start providing "world class learning outcomes"? She said a great deal more, but I think we get the drift.
 
TastyReuben said:
But isn't that how words get new meanings? Words weren't created with all the meanings associated with them fully formed.

When my mom was a kid, "That dog is bad," meant one thing and just one thing, but by the time I was a kid, that sentence could have two, fairly opposite meanings. People, through usage, added to the acceptable definitions of the word.
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Obviously (or maybe it was only obvious to me) I wasn't referring at all to how words change over time, but what I was referring to was limited to people who simply misuse words that have a certain meaning/meanings.
 
Here is a short note on a much larger list that came to my attention of the most frequent errors in corporate communication. These points in particular caught my attention:

"Don't consider the 'unspoken'
What you don't say is at least as important as what you do say.

Don't forget the importance of non-verbal communication.
Your body "speaks" much more than you think.

Don't rely on the communication of subtexts, facial expressions, assumptions.
Your team is made up of different people, they are not you.
The leader's communication thus becomes ambiguous and therefore dangerous."

I have always been fascinated by non-verbal communication, gestures, attitudes, posture, knowing how to (or not knowing how to) empathise, knowing how to dose words taking into account 'us' rather than 'you' or 'I', but which must necessarily go hand in hand with verbal communication.
From my own experience, I have rarely found leaders or bosses who were really able to communicate effectively, most of the time they were peaceniks showing off, supponents or professional menialists.
One of the few good examples of a person with skilful communication skills is my current boss, he knows how to relate to his team without being a friend and he gets results and a good team spirit.
 
Misuse of language, as opposed to evolution of words: an example.

Why do so many people say "should of" instead of "should have"? There is nothing whatsoever that is difficult and how can anyone even begin to imagine that "should of" makes any sense.
 
Duck59 said:
Misuse of language, as opposed to evolution of words: an example.

Why do so many people say "should of" instead of "should have"? There is nothing whatsoever that is difficult and how can anyone even begin to imagine that "should of" makes any sense.
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Probably I’m going to say a nonsense, but it may be related to a sort of laziness?
 
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