miscommunicated.
“There’s more to do during the day on sunday.”
“You’d think that…”
“What do you mean I’d think that?”
“No, I meant people in general would think that.”
“But you said, ‘you’.”
“Nevermind.”
It’s really a sad state of affairs that instant messaging has become the main medium of communication between people these days. How many times a day have you ever said something to someone online, only to have them completely misinterpret your intentions and get upset with you? Me? I’m a sarcastic person, and sarcasm doesn’t transmit well over IM, so I end up unintentionally offending someone over something stupid. Half of modern language is intonation. How you say something is just as important and the words you use. I could just see some war breakout because of George W. Bush calling some foreign dictator an ‘old bastard’ over MSN. You may think that voice chat will soon move in and solve this problem, but you’re wrong. We’ve had telephones for a century before IM showed up. The reason people go for it is because it allows you to talk to all of your friends at once, instead of calling them up individually. Even with voice chat, you’ll never be able to participate in 12 individual conversations simultaneously. Socialism will forever be text-based it seems…and people like me will continue to be misunderstood.
Words are not enough.
Words are never enough. Never.
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P.S.-I meant that that poem I had just read had an extended metaphor. I rather enjoyed it.
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ditto, sweet caroline
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You’re absolutely right – sarcasm is very hard to express in casual chat. I suspect you’re also right that 12 voice convos will be impossible to follow. I wonder how it is we can manage it with text…?
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Just wait until you discover social media, kid.
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