What in the Word?
Posted on January 26, 2017 by Julie Homsy, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
The failure in communication...getting caught up in the words.
Have you noticed lately that some people that you speak to seem to get hung up on the words that you say?
Merriam Webster Dictionary defines word as:
a : something that is said
b plural (1) : talk, discourse <putting one’s feelings into words> (2) : the text of a vocal musical composition
c : a brief remark or conversation <would like to have a word with you>
So when someone gets hung up on words, they are getting hung up on something that is being said.
There are many different words in the English language and there are different ways to interpret what is being said. So if a person misinterprets what the other person is saying, whose fault is it? Is it the person who is saying the words or the person who is listening or reading the words?
When we have a conversation with another person or send a text or even send an email, what we are trying to convey can be misconstrued. Maybe one’s brain is going too fast and your fingers can’t keep up so you miss a word or two. Is it possible that you are using too many words?
But what happens when you are very concise or as I like to say “short and sweet” in what you are saying?
If you are a detailed oriented person, having someone not understand or worse yet, misinterpret what you are trying to convey can be very perplexing, especially if they take it the wrong way. Please understand, it is not you. There are several factors involved in how one interprets what they are reading or being told. Maybe the person receiving the message is in a bad mood or maybe they are tired or hungry. The list can go on. So back to whose fault is it if what is being said is misinterpreted?
It’s the person who received the message fault. The person sending the message delivered what they wanted to convey. Did they include all the details needed? Maybe or maybe not, but how are they to know that you wanted or needed more information? So it is up to the receiver of said message to ask questions. How are they to know you are in a bad mood and maybe half heard what you said? If you, as the receiver, don’t understand…it’s up to you to ask questions. Or maybe since you are in a bad mood you interpreted the tone of the message differently than it was intended. Wouldn’t it be better if when you read or hear a message that someone is giving you to stop and really think about what is being said instead of jumping to a response right away?
Communication is a two way street. If the receiver of the message can be tired or hungry or not paying full attention, so can the person conveying the message. It is very easy for a person who has gone without sleep to forget to interject words into their sentence or thought out what they were going to say in their heads but the words never made it out of their mouths or the receiver cut them off before they completed their thoughts.
In the end, we all need to be better listeners. As listeners, if in doubt of what is being said, ask questions. Don’t blame the messenger if you take what is being said the wrong way or don’t understand.
