Misinterpreted communications

It happens

from JoeUser Forums

Ever sent an email or Instant Message which has been "Misinterpreted".
It happens more than most people realise.
Ever got a strangely delayed or curt reply?
It could be that you've been "Misinterpreted",
It is all so easy to cause offence without even realising it.



So often the tone of a message is lost in the translation, When your writing the message it's tone in your mind is sarcastic,serious or whatever but there are no visual clues as to what that tone is to be determined by the reader of that message.

Its dam near impossible to be sarcastic in an e-mail because most people take it the wrong way,even with a smiley winking at you as if to say "lighten up" can fail to indicate the tone of a message.
How many times have you taken an email or forum post to mean something completely different than it's writer intended?



face to face
So the year is now 2006 and with all the whizz bang technology in our lives there is Nothing,it seems, that will ever replace a face-to-face conversation.


"In a conversation, keep in mind that you are more interested in what you have to say than anyone else is." - Andy Rooney
blogging
5,015 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
This hapened to me just yesterday... I sent an email to a friend about something that was disturbing me. She apparently thought I was disturbed because of something she did. That was not the case at all, but I do think she was upset about it. It is all cleared up now and everything is OK..
But, this is not nearly as bad as what my mother used to do.... in the days of 'snail mail', if she was writing to more than one person at the time, she often put the letters in the wrong envelopes. This created many embarrasing situations for her.... I'm not that bad yet...
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top

I sent an email to a friend about something that was disturbing me. She apparently thought I was disturbed because of something she did. That was not the case at all, but I do think she was upset about it. It is all cleared up now and everything is OK..

I know what you mean,  it's happened to me a few times too!  I've been mis-understood and felt sooooooo bad afterwards!  I sure was glad when I was able to re-assure the other person of exactly what I meant.

I imagine the friend you mention was upset because she like likes you and wouldn't want to cause you pain or grief and was feeling confused about the communication.

One time a relative was upset with me,  and I said ( meaning myself) "that even a broken clock is right 2 times a day! and she thought I meant her!  Yikes...

You're so right on about communication through email and IMing...it's a landmine at times!

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
P.S. insightful article
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
I was chatting away with 2 freinds and was suddenly blocked by one of them it seems I had written in the wrong IM window and although not a bad thing the text was taken the wrong way and took a few days before it was sorted out.