There is a difference between kicking a stone and kicking a sleeping dog. With your scientific prowess, through calculation of velocity, weight and newton’s law of motion, you can be fairly certain of what will happen if you kick a stone. However, your knowledge of physics may not be helpful in predicting the outcome of kicking a sleeping dog. The dog’s reaction to your kick will almost certainly depend on how the dog interprets your intrusion.
Information in one context can mean something else in a different context. The word heaven uttered in a church may have a different meaning when expressed in a brothel. If you are at Muthurwa market and you hear someone shout “Size”, forget about your understanding of the queen’s language and just give way.
Communication is a language game. Every social interaction is a game with different rules of language. Interaction with bosses, colleagues, friends, employees and customers require that we play different language games.
The language game you play with your boss is mostly professional jargon tapered with ass kissery while the language game you play with your friends is mostly playful tomfoolery seasoned with honesty. On the other hand, the language game you play with your spouse is mostly solemn coupled with walking on eggshells.
It’s like an acrobat walking a tight rope. A balancing act.
You can be curt and direct when giving feedback to your employees. But if your spouse wears an unflattering dress and asks for your opinion, that’s not the time to be brutally honest. You are in a different language game now. Utter some incoherent statement that is neither here nor there. The rules of the game in that context demands that you are either economical with the truth or ambiguous in your response.
“The message you send is not necessarily the message that is received”
Life is life
Fabio