Your Mother Was Right, It Is Not What You Say, It's How You Say It

The comic books from Classics Illustrated
were ideal for those that were unable
to digest the full version of classics.

You wouldn't use the same voice you used to remind the kids to clean up the garage, as you would to lead a meeting at work, or, maybe you would, and I 'm  assuming too much.   For most of us we have different voices, and we use them at different times, for different reasons.

We write the same way.  The words in a short note within a Christmas card are selected for the person that will read it.  A reminder note on the fridge is written with less care.

Know your audience.  It is a piece of advice that will not grow old , and can be passed on forever, and still be of great value.

There are those that speak, and write in a very simple, "grammar be damned" way that for the most part, is effective in all aspects of their life.  It defines them.  Sometimes it is purposeful, other times it is is just the persons baseline.

Then there are those that speak, and write in a verbose, affected, pretentious, grandiose way.  It's just them, just as my writing like a hillbilly hooked on phonics is me.   The issue that bothers an audience is when they feel that they are being "spoken up to", or "spoken down to".  Both are bothersome, but some reason when someone we know speaks to us as if they are a Department Chair at Oxford, and we know dang well they isn't, it bothers us more.  As a result, our concentration is placed on the fact that they are attempting a spoken, or written soliloquy about something as inane as the importance of  rotating ones tires, and we find ourselves only hearing the tone, not listening to the message.

When the audience looses the message, we've lost the audience, and it takes a lot to get them back, otherwise we will alienate them forever.

Keep in mind, that just because one uses ten words to as opposed to anothers use of only one, doesn't make them any less truthful, accurate, or well meaning, it only means we need to take a bit more time to listen, and read than we normally would.  Most newspapers are written for readers with an eighth grade level of reading, and when one writes, or speaks at an eleventh grade level it can confound many of us, myself included.

Now, if you are re-reading this, scratching your head, and grunting , Huh?" over your Sunday morning coffee, then I have not chosen my audience well, but if you are nodding, smiling, and muttering something like, "Whoa, Dude, you are sooo right", then I've chosen well.

Awesome.