Did I Misunderstand You, Or…
When people communicate—whether by talking, writing, listening, or even reading—problems can often arise in ways that are hard to predict. You could probably think of many examples from your own experiences that illustrate these challenges. In truth, achieving genuine communication is rare and often difficult. Even with strong language skills and good intentions, communication can go off track in many ways. There are countless things that can cause misunderstandings…
Roger Kreuz, in his new book, explores how communication can be both strong and fragile. Kreuz is the Associate Dean and a psychology professor at the University of Memphis’s College of Arts and Sciences. He earned his Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Princeton University and has written four books on language and communication (). His latest book, *Communication Accidents, is quite thought-provoking. Especially when I see comments on the news or on social media, I often wonder why we misunderstand what we read—and it turns out…
The way our bodies and minds function greatly influences the communication process. Some misunderstandings occur due to sensory reasons, linked to how our sensory organs work. Others are perceptual, based on how our minds interpret what we see and hear. Some communication problems have a cognitive basis, related to memory and thought processes. Additionally, social and cultural factors play a significant role. Let’s explore this topic more closely.
() *Becoming Fluent: How Cognitive Science Can Help Adults Learn a Foreign Language, Getting Through: The Pleasures and Perils of Cross-Cultural Communication, Changing Minds: How Aging Affects Language and How Language Affects Aging, and Irony and Sarcasm. His books have been translated into Turkish (Yabancı Dilde Akıcılık Nasıl Kazanılır?, The Kitap, 2018), as well as Korean, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish.
Humanity and communication have evolved together. For thousands of years, people interacted face-to-face with familiar individuals, but this has changed recently as technology has made communication more accessible than ever. Emails, text messages, and social media posts have taken communication to an entirely new level. Yet, despite all this, our ability to communicate effectively has not improved; in fact, it has actually gotten worse.
According to Roger Kreuz, several different reasons may cause communication to go off track. One of these is language itself, and of course, he provides examples from his language, English. However, I think this applies to all languages. English, like many languages, was not designed for clear and precise communication; in fact, languages do not emerge through design. Instead, English evolved into its current form through a series of historical accidents that shaped its phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary, growing organically without following strict logical rules. While some aspects, like the spelling of words, remain unchanged, other aspects, such as pronunciation, continue to evolve.
In the past few decades, psychologists, linguists, and other researchers have created a multidisciplinary framework known as cognitive science, which, in theory, defines communication as a series of interconnected perceptual, cognitive, linguistic, and social factors. Understanding what can lead to miscommunication is the first step toward improving how we communicate. Kreuz’s new book sheds light on these issues, and if English isn’t your first language, I highly recommend reading it thoroughly.
Effective Communication Has Now Become a Miracle!
The author starts by analyzing mistakes through the lens of reference frames and then organizes them into sections. I have outlined some of these points in a numbered list:
1) Reference Frames
On December 11, 1998, a climate satellite was launched from the Cape Canaveral pad on a journey to Mars. The unmanned orbiter was designed to study the atmosphere and meteorological conditions of Mars. Ten months later, on September 23, 1999, after the maneuver to place the vehicle into orbit around the planet, contact was lost. The reason was that Lockheed Martin, the contractor responsible for designing and building the spacecraft, used units derived from the English measurement system, such as feet and pounds, like the rest of the U.S. space industry. The engineers did not anticipate the inconsistency in measurement units and the lack of necessary conversions. So, it turns out that what we base things on and our general assumptions are important. However, if we constantly checked the other party’s reference frames and general assumptions during communication, conversations would stall, as these frames are invisible and insidious. And sometimes, by the time our wrong assumptions come to light, a price might have already been paid. This often happened to us when writing, reading, or pronouncing in Ottoman Turkish and the Latin alphabet. For example, when saying, “Babıali büyük kapısından mürur edip geçerken bir tek atlı süvariye tesadüfen rast geldim” (meaning, I happened to encounter a lone cavalryman while passing through the great gate of Babıali). ( https://muratulker.com/y/divanyolunu-bilir-misiniz/)
2) Great Expectations
We saw how furious people got when their expectations were not met in finales like those of Game of Thrones and other series. The idea that expectations play a key role in human behavior has been around in psychology for a long time. For example, in the 1920s, English psychologist Frederic Bartlett demonstrated that the mental structures we use to make sense of our experiences—our schemas—have a powerful impact on how we interpret and remember information.
Bartlett had Cambridge students read a Native American story called “The War of the Ghosts.” This folk tale includes elements that do not make much sense outside of its cultural context. In the tale, a boy hunting seals is recruited to help fight a neighboring group. The story unfolds with a battle and supernatural events, ending with the boy returning to his village, recounting the events, and then suddenly passing away. Bartlett asked participants to recall the story as accurately as possible shortly after reading it or after varying intervals of time. He found a characteristic pattern of distortion in the recalled stories. For example, participants substituted fewer familiar elements with ones they knew better, such as remembering fishing instead of seal hunting and boats instead of canoes. Bartlett’s subjects also often omitted foreign and difficult-to-understand elements, such as the ghosts mentioned during the battle or the black substance coming out of the boy’s mouth before he died. Bartlett concluded that these distortions and omissions stemmed from the participants’ expectations. Specifically, their culturally based existing mental schemas led them to make the unfamiliar more familiar and omit elements that were incompatible with their schematic frameworks.
It has been suggested that our schemas can blind us to events in the world, leading us to misinterpret what we see and hear. For example, just before the Japanese attack that brought the US into World War II, a private soldier initially thought the radar observation of incoming aircraft at Pearl Harbor was a malfunction. Another soldier believed the radar was detecting a group of B-17 bombers expected from the US mainland that morning. This shows how the individuals’ expectations influenced their conclusions and decisions, illustrating how our assumptions can lead to misunderstandings.
3) Ambiguous Expression
Examples of ambiguity leading to different interpretations of the same statement have long been debated by legislators. Avoiding ambiguous and poorly defined language can be a solution. In some cases, misunderstandings occur because speakers intentionally make their expressions ambiguous for various reasons. Even if there is a valid reason behind this ambiguity, listeners may not always grasp the main point. If we want someone to do something for us, it is often best to avoid being too direct in our request, as no one likes being told what to do. However, different cultures have different levels of tolerance for direct requests.
In another scenario, a statement or question can have multiple interpretations. A phrase like “It’s very hot in here” could be an indirect request for someone to adjust the thermostat or open a window. Alternatively, it could also be a sarcastic comment about a cold room. The speaker might be hinting at something, which is prone to misunderstanding. As philosopher Ian Olasov points out, many expressions serve as covert messages because of the positive or negative feelings they evoke. Even seemingly neutral phrases like “women and children” can be strategically used to memorialize innocent victims of wartime tragedies. This reminds me of Süleyman Demirel’s saying, “A complete statement is told to a fool.”
3) How Good is Good Enough?
How much hair must a man lose to be considered bald? Questions like this do not have clear-cut answers and may not have universally agreed-upon thresholds. However, such disagreements highlight another potential cause of miscommunication: the words we use are not always specific, precise, or well-defined. If we expect to find clarity in a dictionary, we are likely to be disappointed. If “bald” is defined as losing most of one’s hair, the meaning of “most” is equally problematic. Another factor might not be how precise someone’s language is but rather how much they choose to say. Cognitive scientist Herb Simon proposed that people often do just enough to achieve their goals, coining the term “satisficing behavior,” which can also apply to communication. When discussing the basic rules of conversation, a “quantity maxim” is defined: do not say more than necessary. In most cases, we don’t need to convey too much information to communicate successfully. Research shows that people tend to over-describe objects and events due to context, social situations, and personality factors. However, I believe that repeating instructions up to three times or reiterating orders, as done in the military, can still be beneficial, especially for novices.
4) When Does Informality Cross the Line?
A 2009 study revealed that students’ use of “excessively informal” language was significantly bothersome in university settings. Researchers discovered that professors were especially irritated when students omitted signatures from their messages or used abbreviations such as “RU” instead of “Are you.” Many older generations continue to use excessive punctuation and apostrophes, treating messages as formal letters, without realizing how it impacts the impression their writing makes. For instance, ending messages with periods can come across as condescending to recipients. As you know, writing in all caps on social media is like shouting. Oops, but what happens when we don’t get abbreviations and jargon? Nowadays, many companies use so many abbreviations in internal emails that it is almost like needing a special dictionary.
5) Psychological Factors
As Alexander Pope said, “A little learning is a dangerous thing.” The reverse is also true. When we bring too much experience or knowledge into an interaction, we can encounter what’s known as the “curse of knowledge.” We usually have fewer communication problems with family and friends because we have a good sense of what they know and don’t know. With strangers, though, things are not as clear, which can lead to more issues, especially in electronic communication like email or social media. We generally assume that others have the same background knowledge that we do. The biggest mistake in effective communication often comes from assumption of yours about the other party’s knowledge.
These misconceptions and biases can influence how we communicate and cause misinterpretations. When talking to people, we make various assumptions about what they know and don’t know, which can sometimes be incorrect. For instance, if we assume the other person has little information, we might provide overly detailed explanations, which can be off-putting.
6) Finding Common Ground
Communication failures often stem from incorrect assumptions about common ground. Common ground refers to the shared knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs between two people, which influences their communication. For instance, calling someone “my spouse” establishes a context. Membership in a group can also establish common ground—such as discovering that two strangers are both dentists during a conversation. Examples include religious denominations, alumni associations, and even living in the same neighborhood. Even under the best circumstances, building common ground is challenging, and assuming it is there when it’s cannot create confusion and uncertainty.
7) A Little Bit of Sarcasm
No form of communication is as prone to misunderstandings and misinterpretations as sarcasm. The figurative nature of communication methods makes them susceptible to being misinterpreted. Psychologist Jean Fox Tree and her colleagues have documented that many times, sarcastic remarks are not perceived as such by people. Researchers refer to this gap between the speaker’s intention and the listener’s misinterpretation as the “irony gap.” Fox Tree’s studies revealed that participants expected others to be as sarcastic as they were. Consequently, people with a realistic outlook often fail to recognize sarcasm. Further, those who are not used to figurative language might perceive what they hear as sarcastic, even when it is not. In such cases, the likelihood of miscommunication is high. As a result, communication is already at a disadvantage. However, various textual strategies can be used to compensate for the lack of visual and vocal cues. But do they work? Here’s an example:
Customer tweet: AMAZING! Who could have imagined the traffic between #Thanksgiving and #NewYearsEve, and the awful cold weather in December? Perfect!
Airline’s response: We love the kind words! Thanks a lot.
The Tweet contains several examples of sarcasm. Writing entirely in capital letters is a way to indicate shouting, and exclamation marks signal strong verbal emphasis. Rhetorical questions, such as “Who could have imagined,” a common tactic in face-to-face sarcasm, can also be used. Sarcastic expressions in the online world tend to exaggerate, with extreme terms like “perfect” being prevalent. However, as seen in the airline’s response to the customer’s tweet, all these expressions and forms have proven inadequate. It is possible that the response from the airline was generated by a call center bot rather than a human. A bot uses algorithms to assess the emotional tone of a statement and then attempts to respond appropriately, but it failed in this instance. Will artificial intelligence overcome these issues?
A famous old example from our culture: “Tahir Efendi bana kelp demiş. Malikidir mezhebim benim. İtikadımca kelp tahirdir.” (Literally, the statement means, Tahir Efendi called me a dog, which seems like a compliment because, according to my sect, a dog is pure (tahir, both as the name and a noun, means pure). However, when he says ‘a dog is pure,’ he is both affirming that ‘a dog is clean’ and simultaneously implying that ‘Tahir Efendi is the dog.’ This quote reflects the double meaning and play on words used by 17th-century poet Nef’î.)
8) A Dangerous Illusion
Our general culture creates “semantic illusions,” which can be as powerful as perceptual ones. A well-known example of this is known as the Moses Illusion. When asked how many animals Moses took on the ark, most people confidently say “two,” even though it was Noah, not Moses, who prepared the ark according to the holy scriptures. However, as soon as this well-known story is triggered in our long-term memory, we might not even notice the mistake of the main character’s name. Similarly, experts sometimes fail to recognize semantic illusions in their own fields. In short, having limited knowledge can be dangerous, but that’s just how life is.
9) Misconceptions and Associations
Were you surprised to see the popular beer brand Corona Extra linked to the deadly virus that originated in Wuhan, China? In Latin, “Corona” means crown and is also the name featured in the beer’s logo. Corona Extra has been brewed in Mexico since the 1920s, while scientists in the 1960s named the newly discovered virus “coronavirus,” using the Latin word for crown. Nevertheless, this didn’t stop people from wondering if there was a connection. In January 2020, searches on Google for “beer coronavirus” and “corona beer virus” surged by several thousand percent. A survey at the end of February revealed that 38% of American beer drinkers would not buy Corona under any circumstances. Such misconceptions were only alleviated when the new virus was officially named COVID-19.
Here’s another quirky example from us: In the new alphabet using Latin letters, some words have changed to end with a “p” instead of a “b”. For instance, the word “inkılap” used for revolution was converted into “inkilab” as a joke, due to these “Freudian slips.” The term “inkilab” actually comes from “kelb,” which means dog, and carries a different meaning.
10) Attention: Repairs Needed
Who is at fault when a misunderstanding occurs in a conversation—the speaker or the listener?
Often, the speaker is to blame for misunderstandings. They might use incorrect words or assume the listener knows something. However, sometimes the listener might be at fault for not paying enough attention, hearing incorrectly, or misinterpreting. If the speaker is responsible, they should correct their statements to prevent misunderstandings. What matters is not just what you say, but what the other person understands. So, pay attention!
11) Perceptual Issues
The way our minds interpret sensory input can lead to misperceptions and misunderstandings. We are so accustomed to processing sounds as a language that we might do it even when it’s unnecessary. Similar problems arise when reading words. This is why it’s almost impossible for a person to spot and correct their own spelling mistakes.
Our brains are incredibly skilled at detecting patterns and separating signals from noise. However, they can sometimes be too good at this, finding patterns that don’t actually exist. This phenomenon is called pareidolia; for example, seeing animals in clouds, a face on the moon, or a silhouette of Atatürk on a mountain. Pareidolia can also apply to ambiguous sounds. About 10% of people hear sounds that are not there, a figure that’s slightly higher among children and teenagers. These auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are a common experience in psychologically healthy individuals. It’s like when I thought I heard the call to prayer while working in my New York office.
Let’s talk about mishearing things. Acoustic signals we hear can be pretty vague, and our brains might interpret the same sound in multiple ways. This is especially true for songs where the speech signal is mixed with a lot of background noise—other sounds are competing with the words, and accompanying music and lyrics are delivered as a song rather than as speech. If you are not listening to the music live or watching a video, you do not have the benefit of seeing the singer’s mouth movements to help clear things up. This kind of mishearing is called a Mondegreen. A contemporary example involves a well-known person allegedly requesting a song called “sabile.” (While this story is legendary and still debated, it perfectly illustrates the concept. https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/teyithatti/aktuel/bir-sehir-efsanesi-/1815708.)
When we read, we think our eyes smoothly move across a line of text and then repeat the process on the next line. In practice, our eyes jump across lines of text rather than focusing directly on each word. These quick jumps, technically known as saccades, cause us to skip over short, common words that can be easily inferred from context. Reading can also be seen as an act of prediction. As our eyes leap from line to line, our mind is busy making guesses and forming hypotheses about what comes next. When our expectations are not met, it is easier to notice these errors. Understanding that our eyes jump around and our tendency to predict helps explain why many of us are bad at editing. No matter how many times we review our writing, we are likely to miss spelling mistakes, missing words, or duplicate words.
Handwriting can also be a source of miscommunication. Is poor handwriting just a sign of carelessness, or can it reveal something about the writer’s personality? Experimental studies have consistently failed to find a link between handwriting, personality traits, and job performance.
However, handwriting has been found to have diagnostic value; it can be an indicator of certain health conditions. Specifically, changes in a person’s handwriting have been reliably associated with the development of Parkinson’s disease. This degenerative disorder of the central nervous system leads to significant changes in motor control, as well as the development of depression and dementia as the disease progresses. One common early symptom is micrographia, where the person’s handwriting becomes smaller and more cramped.
Today’s new generations are entering the workforce without the ability to read or write in traditional script. For these young people, the issue is not just unreadable handwriting; it is the inability to read any kind of script.
For example, I do not take notes by hand anymore; I dictate them. Over time, I find even I cannot decipher my own handwriting from my younger days.
12) Words
While psychological and perceptual factors are important, communication problems are not just about what’s in your mind. Sometimes, the issue stems from the sound structure of the language, pronunciation, unfamiliar words, or even your current mood. This is a frequent problem for those who do not read much. Sometimes the problem lies with the language itself—foreign names or sounds uncommon in the speaker’s native language can be particularly troublesome. For instance, many American soldiers were baffled by the pronunciation of French city and town names during both World Wars.
Some words have meanings that are directly opposite to each other, creating additional potential for ambiguity and confusion. Additionally, words can have various meanings. Connotations are the additional associations that a term may carry, which can be unique or stem from a complex web of personal and cultural factors. In some cases, a word might have connotations that are not listed in dictionaries or might only have implied uses, which can change over time. For instance, terms like “passed away” and “kicking the bucket” both refer to death, but the former is generally more suitable for referring to someone you know personally. Furthermore, the connotative meanings of a word or phrase can shift relatively quickly. For example, the term “social justice warrior” originally referred to someone with politically progressive views, with connotations that were either neutral or positive in the early 2000s. Over the next decade, the term’s ideological emphasis grew, and it began to be used in a derogatory manner.
Words or phrases can evolve to have meanings that differ from their original definitions. For instance, “cowboy,” once used to denote a cattle herder, now describes someone who is bold, reckless, or uses intimidation to achieve their goals.
13) Jargon
Jargon is an almost inevitable result of the need for specialized terminology within certain professions or industries. While common jargon can serve as a unifying tool for people within the same field, it can create confusion for those outside of it. Do people in a certain profession forget that the terms and concepts they are accustomed to might be totally unfamiliar to others? The problem here is the absence of common ground. Sometimes, the use of jargon can be intentional, serving as a way to determine if someone is genuinely part of a particular profession or knowledgeable about a specific field. This can be seen as a corporate behavior, as I find myself continuously asking questions and learning until I get familiar with it.
A study conducted on British doctors examined their use of the term “heart failure” and the common euphemisms they employ to refer to this condition. Two frequent substitutes are “He has fluid in his lungs because his heart isn’t pumping fast enough” and “His heart is a bit weaker than before.” Using euphemisms for death is not limited to hospitals or funeral homes; the military also relies heavily on this kind of indirect language to downplay the seriousness of its operations. Terms like “collateral damage” (civilian deaths), “enhanced interrogation” (torture), and “special delivery” (kidnapping) are crafted and used by political and military leaders to make such activities seem more acceptable to the public.
Words can also take on new and significantly different meanings from their original ones. For instance, the word “gay” used to mean cheerful and carefree for centuries, without any sexual connotation.
14) Metaphors
We often use a bunch of basic metaphorical phrases to explain a process or get an idea across. Even though these phrases are metaphorical, we usually do not see them that way, which limits our ability to understand communication in other ways. Metaphors are like double-edged swords: they highlight important similarities but hide key differences. Within a specific culture, metaphors can cause misunderstandings, and even those that appear similar across cultures may have significant differences.
15) Idioms
Idiomatic expressions possess some characteristics, making them a fertile ground for miscommunication. Unlike metaphors or other figurative language, where meaning clashes are easier to spot (like Shakespeare’s “All the world’s a stage” or Pat Benatar’s “Love is a battlefield”, which are clearly unrealistic comparisons), idioms aren’t as straightforward. For example, when someone says “At izi it izine karıştı (You can’t tell dog-prints from horse-prints)”, it’s not about following tracks!
Linguists call these expressions “opaque,” which is a nightmare for people learning a second language worldwide. Idioms are common in every language, but their existence is unpredictable. For instance, in English, instead of saying “havadan sudan konuşma,” the phrase “small talk” is preferred. So, if someone learning English tries to translate it directly as “talking about weather and water,” a Turkish speaker might get it, but it would probably confuse someone from another country 😊.
16) Terms
Many words and phrases fall out of use due to cultural changes or concerns about the origins or original meanings of a term. People from older generations who learned and still use these expressions from decades ago might clash with younger generations whose sensitivities have evolved. A good example of this is the term “Young Turks,” which in English has been used since the mid-20th century to refer to young people eager to make radical changes or shake up the established order. Not long ago, it had a neutral or even positive connotation. However, over time, the term’s origins became more widely known. It relates to the 1908 overthrow of the Ottoman Empire’s absolute monarchy and the 1913 coup carried out by a group known as the Young Turks under the leadership of three Pashas. They were responsible for the Ottoman Empire’s involvement in World War I and its subsequent defeat. A style guide published in 2005 stated that the term “Young Turks” is no longer acceptable and should be avoided.
In summary, misunderstandings can easily arise when people have different views on the acceptability of a particular expression.
17) Cell Phones
Cell phone messages are often brief. Many messages lack sufficient context for accurate interpretation, and sometimes they are not understood across generations. At least, I do not understand them and have to ask, and people also ask me what I mean with the emojis I use.
As cell phones have evolved, spell check has become a standard feature in messaging apps. On one hand, autocorrect has undoubtedly saved many of us from making embarrassing mistakes while typing messages. On the other hand, these “corrections” can turn what we write into something quite different from what we intended. This is known as an automatic error.
18) Misinterpreting Nonverbal Cues
Nonverbal cues can easily be misinterpreted or misunderstood, and this confusion extends into the online world as well. Emojis, which are meant to clarify our expressions, often end up creating more ambiguity instead.
Can we really understand what someone is feeling from their appearance alone? Growing research by psychologists suggests that interpreting emotions often involves more variability and context-dependence than commonly believed. For instance, what some people interpret as a relaxed expression, others might see as a lack of emotion. A relaxed facial expression can also be highly variable; for some, a neutral face might be perceived as discomfort or irritation.
Smiling is a natural reflex in response to certain stimuli, like being tickled or reacting to specific smells. However, social smiles, such as when we smile for a photo, are easily learned behaviors. Research suggests that most people can produce smiles that are perceived as genuine.
As you see, predicting the meanings of words and idioms can create numerous problems. What’s even trickier is interpreting symbols. Many people have experienced the unfortunate realization that hand gestures can have distinctly different meanings in various countries during their travels.
19) Emojis
When it comes to emojis, developers have some leeway in how they depict them. This flexibility means that a single emoji can convey a range of meanings. For instance, folded hands can mean “thank you” or “please” in Japan, a form of greeting in India, and are often interpreted as “praying hands” in the West. Some emojis are even notoriously known for symbolizing various parts of the human anatomy. It seems that there are no emojis for sensitive topics, but people have certainly found ways to use emojis like peaches and eggplants!
What people say can lead to misunderstandings and miscommunication, but the absence of words and the resulting silence can be even more problematic. Silence can mean different things in different contexts. For example, it might indicate that something is believed to be true but also reflect feelings of embarrassment or even defiance. The duration of silence can vary, and given its multifaceted nature, it is not surprising that it often leads to misunderstandings.
20) Cognitive Factors
Our minds construct meaning from language, but this complex interpretation process can sometimes go awry. For example, the sentences we try to understand may have multiple meanings. Additionally, even seemingly minor changes, like the placement of commas, can fundamentally alter how something is understood; for instance, in the sentence “çalış da baban gibi eşek olma (idiom meaning: work hard so you don’t be a slave like your father),” the placement of the comma determines the meaning. When two concepts have conceptual similarities, our memory can play tricks on us and create confusion.
Social Factors
We use language to share our thoughts, feelings and desires with others. We also use language to form social relationships. However, sometimes something said in jest or as a tease can be interpreted differently by the recipient than intended. When communicating through phone, email, or text messages, it is even harder to determine intent if some of these mediums are missing. In this context, teasing—often seen as a light-hearted or playful interaction—can be particularly problematic. It may be perceived as positive or cheerful, but it can also be interpreted as harassment or bullying. A key factor that influences how teasing is perceived is the degree of closeness between the person doing the teasing and the target. Generally, teasing is perceived more positively within close friendships and romantic relationships than it is between people without such bonds.
Some information is shared because it seems reasonable or is believed to be true. Today, the internet has significantly simplified the distribution of information that may be inaccurate or derived from dubious sources. Online forums and social network sites have significantly increased the likelihood of encountering conspiracy theories, apocalyptic predictions, or questionable claims.
According to research, people often use the terms “gossip” and “rumor” interchangeably. However, scholars contend that these terms have distinct meanings. According to them, rumors are unverified and potentially useful pieces of information. Gossip, on the other hand, refers to a social conversation involving evaluations of individuals, used to elevate or maintain one’s status. The term “hearsay” is a legal concept referring to the reporting of someone else’s words or actions by a witness in court.
22) Context
The director of corporate communications at InterActiveCorp (IAC), a media company in New York, was eagerly looking forward to spending the Christmas holidays with his extended family in South Africa, his birthplace. Just before boarding his eleven-hour flight to Cape Town, he tweeted: “Heading to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” This offensive tweet quickly rocked the online world, and the director was fired the next day. This phenomenon is known as context collapse. Alice Marwick and Danah Boyd highlight how social media transforms multiple audiences into a single entity. This illustrates why crafting a social media post that is understood uniformly by all recipients can be challenging. When posts are directed at a small circle of friends, one might feel free to be as extreme or provocative as they wish. However, once such posts are exposed to and scrutinized by strangers, different dynamics come into play.
Concerns about the miscommunication of scientific results to the public have a long history. Even reputable media organizations are known to publish headlines that are provocative and clickbait-oriented, yet lack responsible journalism content. Ultimately, this can lead to a weakening of public trust not only in science but also in institutions like journalism. At the Sabri Ülker Food Research Foundation, we aim to raise awareness in this area through various activities, including education (https://www.sabriulkerfoundation.org/tr.).
Some communicative acts are more significant and riskier than others. For instance, finding the right words to offer a sincere apology or to convey a subtle threat can be challenging, and we must choose our words carefully when influencing others. Another concerning communicative act is expressing romantic interest; it is important to gauge the response to such advances based on the cues we receive from the other person. Excitement towards a potential partner can easily be misinterpreted or lead to embarrassment. Romantic communication errors are tailor-made for this issue.
In conclusion, we are not doomed to a life filled with confusion, mistakes, and misunderstandings. We must avoid unfavorable situations with communication barriers and strive to create or seize suitable opportunities.
Remember, speech is silver, but silence is golden. I believe the above-mentioned communication errors are a testament to this saying. When communicating, it’s important to think once, twice, three, or even four times…
Note: This open-source article may be quoted by citing the author. No copyright is required.