Do you ever have one of those MoMenTs in an email conversation or text where you read the comment and your response is, “That was RUDE! I can’t believe they said that!”
That is the unfortunate ConseQuenCe of written communication. People don’t have the ability to interject tone or emphasis on particular words, and a lot of times, that tone or emphasis is the main form of communication.
Let’s analyze the question, “Are we having goulash again for supper tonight?” If I’m a fan of goulash I will emphasize GoULaSh. “Are we having GoULaSh again for supper tonight?” However if I loathe goulash I will emphasize AGAIN. “Are we having goulash AGAIN for supper tonight?” (As a side note, this is how my husband would respond. Ha!)
We should all make a conscious effort to not overanalyze written communication. We could totally MisinTerpRet what the writer was trying to say and generate some hard feelings for no good reason.
~Lara
The Suede Sofa Blog 