#I guess just YAY communication is wild and complex woo

[abovecalamity]

In school I’ve had this subject called “values and norms” which was my favourite, for one because taking it meant I could stop taking religion as a subject and because it was a fascinating mix between language, anthropology, philosophy and psychology.

I just had to think about the time we’ve spent arguing or passionately discussing different language models and how many things matter when it comes to how we intent things we say and how others receive them. How one person could receive what I say as a joke and another could be deeply offended. How I could mean something as a serious compliment and how the recipient could receive it as a mockery of them because it’s what they’re insecure about. How I could be truly sincere about an apology but that doesn’t mean it has to be accepted or received as sincere.

And because none of you can even listen to my rambles in my voice, look at my expressions or gestures while I text you virtually, the only thing left to determine intent and reception are the words that we choose.

No one knows I giggle when I write “fuck off” unless we’ve established a room for that lighthearted meaning mutually.

No one knows I just used a word for the first time and anticipate a response in agony because FUCK English is my second language.

Look, there are plenty of texts I’ve read about this, varying in complexity and all of them in German but I’ve just had the urge to talk about this.

We can never truly KNOW how someone will receive something we say and ESPECIALLY not when we don’t even get any other clues, when we don’t hear it a certain way, see it.

I’ve also had a blast with the concept that each language creates its own universe and that we can’t TRULY translate stuff and how that means I can mean something with an English phrase and never really get what it means to a native EVEN though I think I do because I utilise the language differently in my brain and—

I should cut it._.