Disclaimer
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2009
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2009
I.A. Richards claimed that rhetoric is really the study and avoidance of miscommunication. How many times have you argued with someone only to learn that you were using different definitions for the same terms? Or found out that the idea that offended you so much was really something completely different in the other person’s mind?
We all use words as shorthand for larger more complex ideas, then we layer on our experiences (or as Burke called them, our “terministic screens”) and before you know it we’re practically speaking different languages.
So, take it from a rhetorician, the next time you feel the need to argue with someone step back and compare definitions. You may find that you’re coming from different positions, not in ideas, but in terms.
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I can hear you Sarah, and I’m there with you. I seem to be the quiet one on the sidelines butting in with the occasional, “you are both arguing for the same thing, but you are not stopping to listen to each other.”
(Brings SL into this…) I find that in SL typing (as I am now) gives me an opportunity to edit as I go. Whereas in RL it is easy to put my foot in it with limited opportunity to claw back from the brink. (I am coyote, and already beyond the edge of the cliff before I know I’ve run off it.)
…Geoff