Yesterday, I was witness to an exchange of words in another online forum that brought back to me how much power there are in our simple little building blocks for communication. In listening to the forum participants chat live later, it was readily apparent the respect they had for each other, which wasn't really coming through in the typed messages I read.
When I take care to write, which I try to do here most times, I tend to think of words in terms of impact in their sentences. I choose the words that I would normally use in the course of conversation and then go back over stuff and re-read, editing words here and there. I often choose words in terms of juxtaposition or force within the sentence and paragraph, to give the reader a visual to help them stay with me in wherever I'm driving, or to evoke an emotion.
The thing is, when I read the stuff I write, I read it with the intended inflection, the gentle tease, the twinkle in my eye. Because of the exchange I witnessed yesterday, it occurred to me that this doesn't always come through in straight text form.
In light of that, I want to apologize to my Aunt Sandy for something I said about her fledgling computer skills. I know she's not hopeless, she's merely at the beginning process of discovering "how things go" and that you can poke that button and the world won't fall apart. She makes me smile a lot as she discovers how to do things. I see her progress when she forwards a mail or sends me a video link and I silently cheer for her.
I'm sorry for my poor word choice in my last post, Sandy. I guess I let the flavour of the words get the better of me, which is a common enough failing for me. And one I'm undoubtedly doomed to repeat more often than I should. Not that I won't or don't already strive to be aware, just that I occasionally slip. And not for malicious reasons.
A friend and I were chatting today and he asked what I was doing, so I told him about this post. He thought for a moment, then came back with ... "Hmm ... brownies are always good way to say I'm sorry."
When I take care to write, which I try to do here most times, I tend to think of words in terms of impact in their sentences. I choose the words that I would normally use in the course of conversation and then go back over stuff and re-read, editing words here and there. I often choose words in terms of juxtaposition or force within the sentence and paragraph, to give the reader a visual to help them stay with me in wherever I'm driving, or to evoke an emotion.
The thing is, when I read the stuff I write, I read it with the intended inflection, the gentle tease, the twinkle in my eye. Because of the exchange I witnessed yesterday, it occurred to me that this doesn't always come through in straight text form.
In light of that, I want to apologize to my Aunt Sandy for something I said about her fledgling computer skills. I know she's not hopeless, she's merely at the beginning process of discovering "how things go" and that you can poke that button and the world won't fall apart. She makes me smile a lot as she discovers how to do things. I see her progress when she forwards a mail or sends me a video link and I silently cheer for her.
I'm sorry for my poor word choice in my last post, Sandy. I guess I let the flavour of the words get the better of me, which is a common enough failing for me. And one I'm undoubtedly doomed to repeat more often than I should. Not that I won't or don't already strive to be aware, just that I occasionally slip. And not for malicious reasons.
A friend and I were chatting today and he asked what I was doing, so I told him about this post. He thought for a moment, then came back with ... "Hmm ... brownies are always good way to say I'm sorry."
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