5 ms·

Should we really have to research each word we use before using it?

• bluntfang 6y ago
  It's important to know the meaning of the words you use. I can't believe I have to say that.
  • cglace 6y ago
    Are you being intentionally obtuse? There is a difference in knowing the meaning of a word and knowing the myriad of ways a word can be perceived by your audience. One is very easy the other is a gargantuan task.
    • marcus_holmes 6y ago
      All communication is an attempt to create meaning in the mind of the listener. If you use words that the listener perceives to have a certain meaning, but that is not the meaning you intended to create, then your message will not communicate your meaning correctly. In other words, all words are given meaning by the listener, not the speaker. Your intentions when saying something are irrelevant (but are usually taken into consideration because no communication is perfect).
      • cglace 6y ago
        If my intent does not matter and my words can be construed to mean anything then where do we go from here?
        • bluntfang 6y ago
          The point is that the only thing you can control, as the communicator, is the words you use. You can't control your audiences vocabulary and their interpretation, thus the onus is on the communicator to communicate their message, not the listener. It's up to the communicator to understand their audience and make the best faith attempt to communicate that they can, and to listen and learn how to communicate effectively to the intended audience after a failure occurs.
          • julianmarq 6y ago
            > to listen and learn how to communicate effectively to the intended audience after a failure occurs. You, accidentally, hit the nail on the head. I'm pretty sure that the intended audience often gets the message just fine. The mobs trying to police everyone else's speech are never the intended audience; they just butt in to try to control how everyone else talks regardless of how much they actually care about the topic, group or subject matter. In this particular example, I highly doubt that anyone in the middle of working against slave trade cares about whether anyone used the words "black market". It's only later, if that ever were discussed on twitter or reddit, etc, that one would start finding people taking issue with that choice of words.
            • bluntfang 6y ago
              >The mobs trying to police everyone else's speech are never the intended audience If the "mobs" are receiving a message not intended for them, the onus lies on the communicator to resolve this. I also think it's really funny that you're assuming you know what people involved in fighting the slave trade want. Are you currently doing that?
              • cglace 6y ago
                Once something leaves your lips/phone/computer it doesn't matter who it is intended for. Surely you know this.
                • bluntfang 6y ago
                  >Once something leaves your lips/phone/computer it doesn't matter who it is intended for. It matters if you choose your audience. I agree, if you make a statement in public, say on twitter, then you've chosen the audience. The world.
                  • cglace 6y ago
                    Everything has that potential now, DMs included.