When a question begs the obvious and expected answer, we're not really asking a question; we're making a disguised statement or request or demand. Wording the demand as a question, with the lilting raised voice at the end and a smile on our face, does not transmogrify it into an innocent act.
Words do a poor job of hiding our true intentions. Whether it's disdain or love, what you feel or believe about your listener will leak into your communication. No; really. It will.
We all make assumptions. In Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Dr. Robert Cialdini points out their value in a complex society. He also points out many of the dangers of assumption. I find myself assigning greater value to books that have more words in them, to CDs that have more music on them. To longer [...]
When I was young, I was fascinated by the sea and ships. When my father took up sailing, he gave us lessons in amateur navigation. Boxing the compass is a term for naming the 32 directions used by sailors of old. Starting from north, we're all familiar with northeast and east. But between north and [...]
Books are not ideas. Words are not the things they label.
One challenge in writing fiction is getting the dialog to sound right. You can't just transcribe a real conversation; reading what was really said, we can't believe any rational person talks like this: "Look at those clouds." "Dark." "Rain?" "Huh. Dunno. What's the weather say?" "Huh. Dunno." "Dark clouds. Huh. Rain." It reads like two [...]
We might assume that context and usage will make our meaning clear. It is, though, only an assumption, and includes the assumption that our readers or listeners know what we know, to some extent.
anger arguing argument assumption assumptions background books brevity challenges communication embarrassment expectations family fear generosity giving honesty indignation intent intentions joel d canfield Karen Lynn last word lie logic lying manners no passion perception perceptions process psychology punctuation quote reading reality semicolon simplicity sources stress trolls truth writing yes
