On 10/7/22 10:30, Ted Lemon wrote:
The reality of communication, particularly communication with strangers, is that you MUST assume that what you say will be taken literally.
In my experience, you can't assume any such thing. People interpret messages however they interpret them, and there's no logic to it that I can see. They'll feel free to read between the lines if that's what they're inclined to do, and they'll blame the speaker for whatever interpretation they come up with, no matter how farfetched. So while I think it is worth effort on a speaker's part to try to minimize the potential for misunderstanding, this can really be like walking on eggshells, and no amount of effort is sufficient to prevent being taken "the wrong way". So good luck to anyone who engages in public debate, and maybe we should all try to be more tolerant.
Keith -- last-call mailing list last-call@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/last-call
