Tone is very important.
It can mean the difference between being nice and being a bitch.
It's the beauty of the spoken language, I think you'll agree.
Well, part of it anyway.
However, when it comes to writing, tone just disappears, don't you think?
And no one can be sure as to how you mean something, which is why we all feel the need to add in brackets (That was sarcasm) or (That isn't as horrible as it reads)
It's all about the way YOU read something, correct?
Isn't it INTERESTING?!
Meaning, that if someone had written something and you read it as being mean and sarcastic then really it is YOU who is to blame for the sarcastic comments.
Silly internet. Needs to open it's eyes.
It's all your own fault.
it's not the mouth (or hand i dunno) it comes out of, its the mind it goes into
yeah its quite interesting I think, I do tend to have long debates with my friends about how it's meant when our perceptions are somewhat controversial. I'm always right. obviously.
If only you'd ever speak to me
the way you once did
look at me the way you once did
pull to me the way you once did
but you don't
you don't feel anymore
you don't care anymore
it's all gone
it's all gone
It annoys me when someone reads something i've said online wrongly and gets annoyed at me when I didn't even mean it like that?
Yer.
"Be nice. Think happy thoughts. Champion silver linings. Love all things (not just cute things like babies and kittens) & when you do love - love like they do in power ballads (you know like on a cliff with the wind in your hair and your eyes shut, knowing you'll never know love like this). Watch out for dog poo. Smile at people - even grumpy ones. Remember anything is possible & whatever you do always try to look on the bright side."
I heard once that 60% of human communication is conducted through non verbal signs - body language, tone etc
And it does make the internet very difficult I agree!
Often we have to ask people to rephrase something, because they way they wrote it sounds a completely different way that how they meant it to.
But I would slightly dissagree with you on your example :) I feel people should make sure when they use a limited channel of communication such as the written word, to ensure their true intention and tone is portrayed.
Oddly enough, emoticons do genuinely help the problem somewhat (that is why they were 'invented')
You're right. it is facinating how words written with jokes, or the best intensions, in mind can so easily be misunderstood. so many things i've written I've had to double check to make sure that a new pair of eyes might have nothing to find offence at.
many things that are said never translate over to the written words. a good example is the words we use in replacement of the phase "I said." we use Like instead. it's so casual i don't even notice i'm doing it.
I was like 'so what' and he was like 'no way'
you speak it, it makes sense, but you write it, it just looks weird.
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
I heard once that 60% of human communication is conducted through non verbal signs - body language, tone etc
And it does make the internet very difficult I agree!
actually i think it's more than 60, more like 70 or 80. i do know for a fact that only 40% is the tone. the rest is hand signals, expression and body language. that's why when most people are on the phone they're hands are still incredibly active, despite the fact no one can see them.
because of inventions like the internet, and to a lesser extent texting, humans are now required to invent a new way of communication, one that deals in words alone with no tone and little expression. a form of communication that goes against the last million years of linguistic evolution. even apes use hand signals and body language more than sounds. humans were no exception to this. spoken language is really a recent invention; somewhere in the last hundred thousand years or so. even amongst the animal kingdom it's action that takes precident over noise.
as communication via the internet grows it will be interesting to see how our communications skills will evolve with it.
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
"as communication via the internet grows it will be interesting to see how our communications skills will evolve with it."
20 years into the internet I am still holding out no hope whatsoever looking at L33t and Txt speak :P
Harley
with the new predictive text, text speak (Gr8) is very quickly dying out. it's the new speak that's rising up on places like MSN (LOL, LOOT, ROFL, OMG) that worries me. I actually know someone who say's LOL and ROFL as if they were real words. it doesn't give me great hope. an entire generation of kids learning their language like that. we can only hope for the best and try and stamp it out.
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
Aside from my sarcastic comment, I do actually find the evolution of language quite interesting to observe... if a little fustrating at times.
William Shakespeare was recorded at spelling his own name 40 odd different ways through his life and life works... and not once as we spell it today.
As humans we have naturally come up with ways to get around this issue of text communication not being enough. Sure the methods of shortening words to get more efficiency (most of english is based on words that have done this) and adding whole new words attached to communicate meaning are sloppy now, but they will develop into something that, in 100 years time from now, will be seen as standard.
And they will read over our language now and laugh at us, as we do about the LOL'ers :)
I'm hoping that in a hundred years they'll look at our language the same way we look at the language in shakespere's plays. a little odd, but also appreciate the classyness of the classic language.
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
Sooner or later I suspect humans might move beyond words and language altogether.
We evolved to the stage where we could develop and use language, now we spend all our time finding ways to say the same thing in less time/space, and we invent technology so we don't need to speak at all.
Eventually, communication via telepathy type systems will be commonplace - and move beyond barriers like foreign languages (on the fly translation is already near here)
Evolution logically ends with us doing less and less to get what we want. We no longer need to work the fields all day to survive to 40, and so logically in 1000 years time we will be legless blobs that need only think 'I want a Pizza' to get one, instead of having to go on the internet for one instead (I talk of Dominos online system).
Computer games (monkeys and humans can already play games where they need only think 'eft' anf 'right' to o it), vehicular control (we already have cars that auto brake to avoid accidents, and cars that can drive faster round a racetrack than a human), military equipment, contact lenses with screens in them... everything is moving more and more towards not having to write anything anymore, or even use your hands. It won't be long before things start getting much weirder, trust me
personally a telepathic communication system is something i look forward to. to be able to break down the barriors of communication, who knows how that could benefit mankind.
but don't even get me started on the domino's online ordering system.
but i hope our evolution doesn't make us legless blobs.
humans are always naturally seeking ways to make life more convenient for themselves. we've worked hard on the convenience now we need to find a way to balance that so our health isn't at stake. nice if we can all live to be a hundred, no point doing so if we can't even move around.
personally i have the hope for a star trek-like society. all that wonderfully convenient technology and still an active life to lead.
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
Eventually, communication via telepathy type systems will be commonplace - and move beyond barriers like foreign languages (on the fly translation is already near here)
Harley
I'm still waiting for speech recognition on the computer. The typing is killing me (and my gramnazi friends). I thought more progress would have been made by now.
it was only twenty years ago the thought of talking to a computer at all was something that was pure science fiction. who knows what we'll be able to do in another twenty.
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
The curve of technological evolution is exponential, meaning that it continues to accelerate at a faster and faster rate.
Basically, right now we are waiting for a thing called 'technological singularity' which is where we hit the point where technology moves at a rate too fast for us to reasonably understand. We build machines that can make stuff we couldn't already, but when technology can do the same to problems, questions and challenges we face - thats when we hit a rollercoaster ride. We will have machines that we use day to day, that are simply too complicated for us to understand how they work.
Quantum computing and AI are the two major things that will tip things over the edge. Once tipped, things like robots doing the garbage and text messaging through thought alone are not big imagination jumps.
We already have robots that clean floors and deliver mail, we already use AI in various industrial scenarios (albeit not very good yet) and they already have slow Quantum computers up and working.
So while I agree things are pretty rubbish now in terms of voice recognition and stuff, the next 20 years is going to really interesting :)
Those people alive today, I truly feel are alive at one of the most important and amazing periods of... evolution in human history. I can't wait! :)
i disagree. While i do accept there will be a time when the machines could end up doing all the work for us and we won't understand the technology and just use it, i just think it'll happen.
People always want to have an understanding of the technology, and have a certain degree of control over it. I doubt that mankind will ever really allow machine to do all the design and construction work without some kind of human element somewhere along the way.
It wasn't that long ago that mobile phones were so small the companies had to delibratly make them larger otherwise they would be ridiculously small. In a similar way i think we might end up holding ourselves back on certain technological developments so we can maintain that control of the human element.
We've been affected by too many stories of machines taking over the human race to ever allow our future to be 100% in their hands.
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
Interesting post. (No sarcasm intended)
That tiny tiny detail of how mean things, and how people understand them has got me into trouble many times before.
Sarchasm, the gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the recipient who doesn't get it
I cant stand predictive text. it never comes up with the words im trying to see. Text speak is ok when you only have a few characters. i find it hard to read online and prefer people to write out what they are saying
If we only use predicitive text and abbreviations then surely the day must come when we all forget how to actually speak and write properly. I just hope I wont be around when that happens
I agree with the point about tone though but i think it depends on the reader, not the writer. The writer has said what they are going to say and the individual reading it makes their own assumptions from the words written on the page. I can see why emotions are good though. I should probably use them more.
I cant stand predictive text. it never comes up with the words im trying to see. Text speak is ok when you only have a few characters. i find it hard to read online and prefer people to write out what they are saying
If we only use predicitive text and abbreviations then surely the day must come when we all forget how to actually speak and write properly. I just hope I wont be around when that happens
I've never had a problem with predictive text, my mobile can spell better than i can.
anyone who's read George Orwell's 1984 will know how quickly a language can change. there's a small line in the book where one man comments how the next generation's language will be so different that they won't actually understand what their parents are saying. or soemthing like that, it's been a little while since i read it.
personally i'm trying to preserve what little English language we have left. if i ever hear a person speak LOL, or ROFL, as if it's a word i have a nice 3 minute 23 second (yes i timed it) speech on the degradation of human linguistic skills.
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
