4 ms·
Reporting the punch line first only works if your interlocutor knows what you are talking about. In this case there is no antecedent for "the bull" and so ther
by lisper 3y ago
Reporting the punch line first only works if your interlocutor knows what you are talking about. In this case there is no antecedent for "the bull" and so there is no way the person hearing this story could know what "the bull is dead" actually means, or even whether this is a literal bull who has actually died, or some metaphorical reference to something else.
The Right Way to report this is something like, "I'm fine, but I got into an accident. I hit a bull and killed it." But that doesn't make nearly as captivating a headline.
- elliottkember 3y agoI think the point of the story is that his son used the process instead of panicking. It’s easy to say he said the wrong thing, but compared with a panicked phone call, it’s pretty good. A process like this helps override the natural response to a situation. People often think they would be cool in a crisis. But panic makes you do weird things.
- lisper 3y agoYes, but my point is that it's a really bad example, chosen to optimize for marketing rather than illustrating actual effective communication. In and of itself there is nothing wrong with marketing, but intentionally sacrificing effective communication in a piece whose topic is effective communication strikes me as particularly ironic, and it really rubbed me the wrong way.
- adammarples 3y agoHis son literally didn't use the process. Status is supposed to be step 2 but he opened with "I'm ok". The correct report would be "I hit a bull but I'm OK". Which is boring, obvious, natural, and not a click bait style headline which leaves us wondering what it means. Whether the bull survived or not is also superfluous information which shouldn't even have been reported at all.
- torstenvl 3y ago"I'm ok" is the punchline, not the status. The status is "police are on their way, car is operable, I can explain more soon (no rush)"
- adammarples 3y ago"I crashed the car" is definitely the punchline, it's what happened. "I'm ok" is reporting your status. "the police are coming" is also status. But if someone just texts to say that they're OK and the police are coming, I still have no idea what's happened.
- torstenvl 3y agoNo. You are grossly misinterpreting the point of both the story and this system of communication. You don't need to know what happened. You do need to know your kid is okay. Being so preoccupied with the "story" that you think it's more important than your kid being okay is unconscionable.
- lisper 3y agoSorry, but you are mistaken. From TFA: > 1. Punch line: The facts; no adjectives, adverbs or modifiers. > 2. Current status: How the punch-line statement affects the project. The facts are: I crashed the car. The status is: I'm OK. (The real lesson here is that this methodology is not always a good idea.)
- torstenvl 3y agoI literally do this for a living. You fundamentally misunderstand the principle you're trying to apply. This is HN, not StackOverflow. I encourage you to act in the spirit of intellectual curiosity instead of being self-satisfied with misguided attempts at language lawyering.
- 3y ago