Well said. It's no accident that emoticons/smileys mostly refer to faces or sometimes to body language. There are well documented areas in the brain for recognition of facial expressions. Technical issues can be expressed in precise language, but language exchanges like "banter" that involve emotional content evade detailed written expression because for most of our existence we have relied on body language to supplement the spoken word. (The written word even loses aspects of speaking such as tone of voice.) This has really been made clear to me lately because I have a good friend on sabbatical in Paris and we talk via Skype. Her computer and my home computer have cameras, whereas the one in my office does not. Since Skype can do Jetson-style video phoning, I can actually experience the differences in the conversations when we can both see the others face or not. The "not" case has more misunderstanding and requires more clarification.
On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 10:00 AM, Bob Sullivan <[email protected]> wrote: > Bob W., > You were good in math. Surely you know that the only form of precise > communications is the mathematical formula. It works because we have > precise rules and definitions we have agreed upon in advance. > Coming from mathematics to language, I find language a very frail and > clumsy way to communicate. Perhaps this is why gesture and facial > expressions are such an integral part of successful communications. > And why face-to-face communications are so superior to other forms. > Regards, Bob S. > > On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 2:36 AM, Bob W <[email protected]> wrote: >>> > Right. I want honest opinions but I am not certain that I am >>> > understanding you fully, Bob. I'll try once more - I don't want to >>> > write >>> > better, or may be more precise to become a better writer. I want to >>> > communicate better. One is not fully equal to another. >>> > >>> >>> email is a written medium, so if you want to communicate better by >>> email you >>> have to become a better writer. >>> >>> B >> >> one of the best writers of English in the last hundred years was George >> Orwell. His essay on writing is considered a classic. Read, mark, learn and >> inwardly digest: >> >> <http://www.resort.com/~prime8/Orwell/patee.html> >> >> B >> >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. >> > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- Steve Desjardins -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
