Coda: It is not a good idea for you to comment here, or text or email me, asking, "Are you talking about me?"
My very strong advice, keeping your own interests in mind, is that you not do this. It will not result in a productive exchange. I trust that my readers can pick up the seriousness underneath this mild way of expressing the thought.
I know exactly what you mean. I am a clear-communicator too, and I almost always run remarks through my head before speaking/writing with the goal of putting myself in the other person's shoes and thereby anticipating what they may find puzzling or unclear about the subject.
I don't know if it's worse now or not. My career has been spent needing to communicate clearly to every sort of person and it's always been a struggle. I've learned a lot about how to untangle my own thoughts, which tend to gallop along and occasionally ricochet. I'm never upset when people need clarification, unless they ask me about something that I went five-thousand miles out of my way to make clear, often in writing.
Love this. I suspect another aspect of this clarity-deficit phenomenon is the lack of in-person relationships. I trust you enough to accept any challenge, expression of concern, etc. I would always hear you out, even if it hurt. I suspect the median number of relationships Americans have for which such a statement is true has dropped dramatically. Outside of inner circles, ie real friendships, we have people we've spoken to online and *maybe* met once. Few people even hit the middle ground of regular phone calls. Boundaries are nebulous at best and internet communication is hair triggered to offense-taking, so we tiptoe around. To our detriment. The lack of forthrightness makes the "this is not a real relationship" problem worse.
Heck sometimes even my parasocial relationships are more reliable lol. A few months ago I took a week-long trip through the coastal south and asked one of my favorite follows about things to see in southern Alabama, as she lives in northern Alabama. She gave me, a complete anon, a few suggestions. You would probably be more reliable than most if I were traveling through Vermont (I did a year ago, but only for 6-8 hours) and asked you for sights to see. I travel alone because "if you want something right you have to do it yourself" and all. The few times I traveled with someone else I end up pulling teeth and directing all communications and taking all initiative. (I've even planned someone's trip for them, which I still carry a chip on my shoulder over.)
"communication is hair triggered to offense-taking" I had a friend who used to get a little upset that I didn't trust them with bluntness and held my tongue. Except I learned from experience that I would just end up apologizing or explaining myself. Telling them this would make things worse. A mature person could hear this and understand, but then it wouldn't be an issue in the first place. I don't need someone to "understand me" or "get it" but when I know they won't why bother? I don't get too closed-off.
You, sir, are correct. Words are very important, and they have meaning.
However, this is not new. I remember back when AOL (America Online) had Instant Messaging. Most people I knew would abbreviate almost everything, and I'd have to scratch my head and figure out what they were saying. It's also why I requested that we communicate by Email, Messaging Boards, or Forums. That way, we could spell out exactly what we were talking about.
My wife tends to get upset when I text her because I use complete sentences, and she uses "K, Thnx." That's carried over to how I write my notes; I try not to abbreviate or take shorthand.
Besides so many people not communicating well, they also don’t read clear explicit communications or responses (business emails, for example), which often means I can’t win for losing. Trying to communicate is a frustrating endeavor.
So frustrating. There were many times that I would email colleagues with necessary information, or write a memo and staple it to the front of a file I gave them, and they would end up asking me about everything that was ALREADY FREAKIN' COVERED in the email/memo I spent twenty minutes carefully crafting.
Especially frustrating because I worked closely with the same dozen people and over the years they should have learned that I would never give them a file without also letting them know what they needed to know about it.
This problem of communication etiquette has been literally on overdrive since 2010. It appears that everyone’s IQ points have been dropping at the rate of 5% per year, with the exception of “Le Malaise” circa 2020 - present day. Neurologically challenged people who imbibed in “Le Malaise” are almost too much fodder for fun when asking them to remember ANYTHING of historical significance six months ago or more. Let’s go back to the bloodletting days to erase those really, really bad hurtful #mevictim days!!!
Those people are probably correct, technology merely proved the theorem, if not exacerbated the problem. Meaning, people can now express every little thing they're thinking, without being asked. Cynicism/judgment has been validated. My impatience took root around 30 and I've never looked back. It's absolutely lonelier but I'm ultimately happier and more at peace.
Another thing that is disappearing - asking someone for directions to something that is within a short radius and being curtly told "google it". (I equate this response with "go pound sand" or "f*** you".) I will preface this with the fact that I do not have an iPhone (yet). People assume you have an iPhone and if you ask for directions you are an idiot. What if I had one but lost it? What if I can't get a signal in the area? What if it is broken? What about kindness? Remember when you could stop and talk to people and ask the locals "Can you tell me the best way I can get from here to "landmark X"? People used to be be nice and tell you the best way to get somewhere because maybe certain roads were closed, etc., but they lived in the area so they usually knew the best ways to get to a place. I remember when my family traveled from California to Indiana every year in the 1960s-1970s to visit my Dad's side of the family. Sometimes he would have to pull into a gas station and ask the best way to get somewhere because maybe the map he was using was not very accurate or certain roads closed, etc. Usually people were very nice and wanted to help. And they were very detailed in their directions like "turn left when you see the X grocery store sign". My incident happened last year during the day in southern California. I went back to my car and pulled out my Thomas guide (yes they still update them at least in California as it is mandatory for it to be in the vehicle of emergency personnel (police, fire, ambulance, etc.). Believe it or not the Thomas maps are the most accurate. Google has sent some people to their death in the deserts because people trusted the information and ended up on back roads not meant for the public, etc. Check out this article about the Thomas guides from 2021. https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment-arts%2Fstory%2F2021-12-07%2Fthomas-guide-los-angeles-orange-county-new-2022%23%3A%7E%3Atext%3DOnly%2520the%2520L.A.%252FOrange%2520County%2Ca%2520Thomas%2520Guide%2520on%2520board.
Definitely!! Spatial relations skills, anyone? Being kind and knowing how to use a map per state in the event you have “no service”? Compass? Survival skills?? Using a glass prism to start a fire? The Thomas maps are an essential for me, after living here and in Europe for three years.
Concerning point #2: Everyone fancies themself a celebrity. The Facebookification of life has made everyone a 'broadcaster'. Once (many years ago), I *thought* I was having a nice in-person conversation with a friend, and I was asking her interested questions about something-or-other in her life. She got annoyed at one of the questions and said, "Don't you read my Facebook?" I hadn't. I had committed the crime of asking her for information I should have already known because I SHOULD HAVE read about it already on her personal broadcast!
The ironic thing about that, as George Carlin said, is that "people are fucking boring. They're just fucking BORING." To be honest I often fake small talk and being interested but that's because I'm trying to be a better listener. It's also how you build empathy. Sometimes you end up genuinely caring. But I'm not committed enough to trawling your timeline for minutiae. No one has time for that. I'll stop before I do a cynicism dump lol
Turns out I have a lot more to say about this--quel surprise.
My 20 years directing a nonprofit consumer protection organization gave me a direct look at how bad people are at communicating. Many came to the organization for help making a complaint against a business.
With few exceptions, it was a lot of work to get the complainant to be clear, specific, and understandable. Given that the organization I worked for dealt with complaints about funeral homes and cemeteries, complainants were understandably more emotional than those who bought a defective washing machine.
The job taught me that I had to take a forensic approach to sorting out what happened, who did what, why they might have done it, when they did it, and what a reasonable response might be.
While the majority of consumers had a valid complaint on at least some level, a very sizeable minority did not have a legitimate complaint once all the facts were on the table. Some consumers were simply overly emotional and, yes, narcissistic and fractious by nature. But the majority of "non-valid" complaints happened because of a failure of communication between the funeral director and the grieving customer.
Both parties are in different emotional states, and have different needs. Funeral service business protocol is second-nature to undertakers, but it is opaque to consumers. Many of these complaints were misunderstandings. It was pleasing when I could clarify the situation for both parties to the point where the customer no longer felt the need to file a formal or legal complaint.
This also taught me that unclear communication is a conscious strategy for a noticeable number of fractious people. They substitute emotion/indignation/grief for facts because that works on most people. "How awful of that mean old undertaker!" is the common response.
But I insisted on clarity, chronological timelines, and when appropriate, evidence and documentation. The "grieving, devastated party" in such cases quickly changed affect, becoming insulting, aggressive, and threatening.
Most people aren't consciously deceptive manipulators (but a sizeable minority is). For most, it's really just bad communication.
In my professional life, about 25% of my hours are billed as Tier 2 help desk support on a big data contract with clients ranging from deputy cabinet secretaries to big-wig PhD/MD researchers to project managers at consulting firms like McKinsey and Deloitte. I've been in this position for 13 years, but have done similar work going back to the early 1990s. And over that time I have most definitely noticed an increase in the number of otherwise highly intelligent and educated people who have NO FREAKING CLUE how to construct a help request with adequate details and chronology to enable a diagnosis, or respond to a follow-up requesting more information. This is a typical initial contact: "HELP my program crashed it used to work but now is frozen I am on a tight deadline someone call." I'm on my third stress ball this year and they're not helping.
Me: What is "it"? Are you on a PC? Apple phone? Android phone? What, specifically, doesn't work? Are you using an app, or going through a browser window?
You're right, Josh, but I don't know if it's a "sizable minority" anymore. Self-centeredness/self-interest (or various degrees of narcissism) seem to guide the majority of people. Healthy personal and professional relationships are rare exceptions to the rule. And we also make too many excuses for such people ("don't look for ill will where there is mere incompetence," etc.) Again, a personal observation.
I respectfully submit that it will be easier for you to accept people who fall short of your expectations by acknowledging that they are dumber than you. In most cases they are much dumber than you.
You already know this is true, but just integrate that into your thinking as a constant reminder. The discourse about people who do not communicate effectively is valuable. I'm not suggesting you do anything different apart from ramping up the reminder.
i would not claim that peeps in the county hood are quite so dim as you would like to think. the average Champlain dairy farmer is running a 1MM$ enterprise. it is the highest form of stupidity to think that your "social lessors" are a dim lot.
You're conflating intelligence with class position. You're defending a position that hasn't been assailed. I don't know what dairy farmers have to do with that, but that's coming from you.
Ah, Mr. Slocum, haven’t you heard? Correct grammar and punctuation is a white privilege thing (so naturally) it is not being taught in the government schools.
Private schools, now that’s a cabal of another color; of course. Clear, concise communication is required there, at the training grounds of our future overlords. Much greater demands are made of those pupils than the once and future, gubmint edumakated slave classes.
Clarity of writing is likewise not a thing that is required of our slave class children (of any age) because clarity of writing requires clarity of thought. Clarity of thought requires critical thinking, and therein lies the rub. The OmniState regards critical thinkers as pests, to be exterminated forthwith.
I share your pain. I’ve been warning of this for decades. Alas, for naught. We now have several generations of Americans for whom the english language is as foreign to them as the french language is to moi.
It’s often “lesser” not “fewer”. It’s often “many” not “much”. One can simply ask, “Where are you?” rather than, “Where are you AT?” Please. Don’t end sentences with a preposition. Say instead. “Where are you at, ASSHOLE?”
Another time we can discuss the coarsening of language, ASSHOLES.
This is how much standard public education has declined in the US: My grandmother, who lived in the boondocks and married a coal miner, dropped out of school in 1936 at age 16. Nevertheless, she wrote a beautiful hand and was a real stickler for grammar. Whenever one of her children asked her, "Mom, where is X at?" she would always answer "It's right before the 'at.'"
I tend to communicate in writing using wordy (too wordy I will admit) sentences composed of multiple phrases punctuated by commas, colons, semi-colons, ellipsis, or dashes, and I even sometimes ask 2 questions in one query. Oh boy. Does this style ever result in frustrating responses. In the case of asking 2 questions, inevitably only the last question will be answered.
My verbal communications are somewhat the same way. Long phrases, punctuated with short pauses which often leads to me being interrupted by the person with whom I'm speaking.
Apologies in advance when I speak or write this way. In striving for clarity I may try a little too hard. I'll try to do better.
P.S. I'm sure my complete, grammatically correct including punctuation text messages really piss some people off. I don't care.😌
My kingdom for people who communicate the way you do.
I've taken to using numbered lists, and trying to restrict each email to only one topic. Yes, I will send multiple "annoying" emails. If I don't, and if I include three questions in one email, even if they're numbered, only one will get answered.
So true! These experiences cause me many eye rolls and under the breath mutterings castigating the responder for being so...lazy? Careless? Passive Aggressive? Maddening to say the least!
The use of emoji’s to convey a thought or emotion infuriates me. It is the height of laziness and universally pervasive. How did this become acceptable?
The use of acronyms...... LOL, IMHO, LMAO.... ugh. At the risk of appearing snobbish, when I read these in a text or any written form I immediately assume the writer is stupid which is neither fair nor accurate . How did we adopt these terms as acceptable communication? I’m really feeling my age these days!
People are now using national flags, too. I'm sorry, but I don't happen to know the tri-colored flag of every country on the globe, nor their two-letter country codes. Is it so damned hard to just write out the name?
I too have noticed a decline in social consideration, courtesy, and empathy. There is also a peer pressure to believe the same lies. I suspect this is how journalists excuse themselves when they echo the lies approved by Rupert Murdoch, or fail to reveal terrible truths for the same reason. It is simply easier.
Everybody seems to be lazier, which is consistent with the above.
I have also noticed a lack of basic survival energy in people, presumably because of food and pharmaceutical toxicity, cumulative malnutrition, and lack of sleep. The latter was revealed by Australia's Government when it noted in 2005 that 1 in 3 people do not get enough sleep to maintain normal good health, Five years later, this was measured as 50%. The US would be much the same.
But by far the greatest cause is education system and mainstream media success in dumbing people down. When 70% of the nation believes a vaccination is safe and effective yet recipients catch covid again and again, whilst some 20% are injured or dead, then we know for sure that 70% of the population is mentally retarded. Call a spade a spade, folks, The world is now being run by cretins and psychopaths. What a lovely combo, and yet we do nothing about it.
Coda: It is not a good idea for you to comment here, or text or email me, asking, "Are you talking about me?"
My very strong advice, keeping your own interests in mind, is that you not do this. It will not result in a productive exchange. I trust that my readers can pick up the seriousness underneath this mild way of expressing the thought.
If you have to ask…
I know exactly what you mean. I am a clear-communicator too, and I almost always run remarks through my head before speaking/writing with the goal of putting myself in the other person's shoes and thereby anticipating what they may find puzzling or unclear about the subject.
I don't know if it's worse now or not. My career has been spent needing to communicate clearly to every sort of person and it's always been a struggle. I've learned a lot about how to untangle my own thoughts, which tend to gallop along and occasionally ricochet. I'm never upset when people need clarification, unless they ask me about something that I went five-thousand miles out of my way to make clear, often in writing.
Love this. I suspect another aspect of this clarity-deficit phenomenon is the lack of in-person relationships. I trust you enough to accept any challenge, expression of concern, etc. I would always hear you out, even if it hurt. I suspect the median number of relationships Americans have for which such a statement is true has dropped dramatically. Outside of inner circles, ie real friendships, we have people we've spoken to online and *maybe* met once. Few people even hit the middle ground of regular phone calls. Boundaries are nebulous at best and internet communication is hair triggered to offense-taking, so we tiptoe around. To our detriment. The lack of forthrightness makes the "this is not a real relationship" problem worse.
Heck sometimes even my parasocial relationships are more reliable lol. A few months ago I took a week-long trip through the coastal south and asked one of my favorite follows about things to see in southern Alabama, as she lives in northern Alabama. She gave me, a complete anon, a few suggestions. You would probably be more reliable than most if I were traveling through Vermont (I did a year ago, but only for 6-8 hours) and asked you for sights to see. I travel alone because "if you want something right you have to do it yourself" and all. The few times I traveled with someone else I end up pulling teeth and directing all communications and taking all initiative. (I've even planned someone's trip for them, which I still carry a chip on my shoulder over.)
"communication is hair triggered to offense-taking" I had a friend who used to get a little upset that I didn't trust them with bluntness and held my tongue. Except I learned from experience that I would just end up apologizing or explaining myself. Telling them this would make things worse. A mature person could hear this and understand, but then it wouldn't be an issue in the first place. I don't need someone to "understand me" or "get it" but when I know they won't why bother? I don't get too closed-off.
You, sir, are correct. Words are very important, and they have meaning.
However, this is not new. I remember back when AOL (America Online) had Instant Messaging. Most people I knew would abbreviate almost everything, and I'd have to scratch my head and figure out what they were saying. It's also why I requested that we communicate by Email, Messaging Boards, or Forums. That way, we could spell out exactly what we were talking about.
My wife tends to get upset when I text her because I use complete sentences, and she uses "K, Thnx." That's carried over to how I write my notes; I try not to abbreviate or take shorthand.
Besides so many people not communicating well, they also don’t read clear explicit communications or responses (business emails, for example), which often means I can’t win for losing. Trying to communicate is a frustrating endeavor.
So frustrating. There were many times that I would email colleagues with necessary information, or write a memo and staple it to the front of a file I gave them, and they would end up asking me about everything that was ALREADY FREAKIN' COVERED in the email/memo I spent twenty minutes carefully crafting.
Especially frustrating because I worked closely with the same dozen people and over the years they should have learned that I would never give them a file without also letting them know what they needed to know about it.
A couple of you have said this isn't new, and that you've seen it all your life.
You may be right. It might be that I'm now noticing it more, but that it was always there.
It might also be (and I think this is pretty likely) that at nearly 50, I've run out of patience for things I took in stride when I was younger.
This problem of communication etiquette has been literally on overdrive since 2010. It appears that everyone’s IQ points have been dropping at the rate of 5% per year, with the exception of “Le Malaise” circa 2020 - present day. Neurologically challenged people who imbibed in “Le Malaise” are almost too much fodder for fun when asking them to remember ANYTHING of historical significance six months ago or more. Let’s go back to the bloodletting days to erase those really, really bad hurtful #mevictim days!!!
Those people are probably correct, technology merely proved the theorem, if not exacerbated the problem. Meaning, people can now express every little thing they're thinking, without being asked. Cynicism/judgment has been validated. My impatience took root around 30 and I've never looked back. It's absolutely lonelier but I'm ultimately happier and more at peace.
Another thing that is disappearing - asking someone for directions to something that is within a short radius and being curtly told "google it". (I equate this response with "go pound sand" or "f*** you".) I will preface this with the fact that I do not have an iPhone (yet). People assume you have an iPhone and if you ask for directions you are an idiot. What if I had one but lost it? What if I can't get a signal in the area? What if it is broken? What about kindness? Remember when you could stop and talk to people and ask the locals "Can you tell me the best way I can get from here to "landmark X"? People used to be be nice and tell you the best way to get somewhere because maybe certain roads were closed, etc., but they lived in the area so they usually knew the best ways to get to a place. I remember when my family traveled from California to Indiana every year in the 1960s-1970s to visit my Dad's side of the family. Sometimes he would have to pull into a gas station and ask the best way to get somewhere because maybe the map he was using was not very accurate or certain roads closed, etc. Usually people were very nice and wanted to help. And they were very detailed in their directions like "turn left when you see the X grocery store sign". My incident happened last year during the day in southern California. I went back to my car and pulled out my Thomas guide (yes they still update them at least in California as it is mandatory for it to be in the vehicle of emergency personnel (police, fire, ambulance, etc.). Believe it or not the Thomas maps are the most accurate. Google has sent some people to their death in the deserts because people trusted the information and ended up on back roads not meant for the public, etc. Check out this article about the Thomas guides from 2021. https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment-arts%2Fstory%2F2021-12-07%2Fthomas-guide-los-angeles-orange-county-new-2022%23%3A%7E%3Atext%3DOnly%2520the%2520L.A.%252FOrange%2520County%2Ca%2520Thomas%2520Guide%2520on%2520board.
YES.
Definitely!! Spatial relations skills, anyone? Being kind and knowing how to use a map per state in the event you have “no service”? Compass? Survival skills?? Using a glass prism to start a fire? The Thomas maps are an essential for me, after living here and in Europe for three years.
Concerning point #2: Everyone fancies themself a celebrity. The Facebookification of life has made everyone a 'broadcaster'. Once (many years ago), I *thought* I was having a nice in-person conversation with a friend, and I was asking her interested questions about something-or-other in her life. She got annoyed at one of the questions and said, "Don't you read my Facebook?" I hadn't. I had committed the crime of asking her for information I should have already known because I SHOULD HAVE read about it already on her personal broadcast!
That is very well put - what happens to people psychologically when you turn an entire culture into “broadcasters”?
I hate when people get annoyed that I didn't see some important life news they shared on Facebook.
The ironic thing about that, as George Carlin said, is that "people are fucking boring. They're just fucking BORING." To be honest I often fake small talk and being interested but that's because I'm trying to be a better listener. It's also how you build empathy. Sometimes you end up genuinely caring. But I'm not committed enough to trawling your timeline for minutiae. No one has time for that. I'll stop before I do a cynicism dump lol
Turns out I have a lot more to say about this--quel surprise.
My 20 years directing a nonprofit consumer protection organization gave me a direct look at how bad people are at communicating. Many came to the organization for help making a complaint against a business.
With few exceptions, it was a lot of work to get the complainant to be clear, specific, and understandable. Given that the organization I worked for dealt with complaints about funeral homes and cemeteries, complainants were understandably more emotional than those who bought a defective washing machine.
The job taught me that I had to take a forensic approach to sorting out what happened, who did what, why they might have done it, when they did it, and what a reasonable response might be.
While the majority of consumers had a valid complaint on at least some level, a very sizeable minority did not have a legitimate complaint once all the facts were on the table. Some consumers were simply overly emotional and, yes, narcissistic and fractious by nature. But the majority of "non-valid" complaints happened because of a failure of communication between the funeral director and the grieving customer.
Both parties are in different emotional states, and have different needs. Funeral service business protocol is second-nature to undertakers, but it is opaque to consumers. Many of these complaints were misunderstandings. It was pleasing when I could clarify the situation for both parties to the point where the customer no longer felt the need to file a formal or legal complaint.
This also taught me that unclear communication is a conscious strategy for a noticeable number of fractious people. They substitute emotion/indignation/grief for facts because that works on most people. "How awful of that mean old undertaker!" is the common response.
But I insisted on clarity, chronological timelines, and when appropriate, evidence and documentation. The "grieving, devastated party" in such cases quickly changed affect, becoming insulting, aggressive, and threatening.
Most people aren't consciously deceptive manipulators (but a sizeable minority is). For most, it's really just bad communication.
In my professional life, about 25% of my hours are billed as Tier 2 help desk support on a big data contract with clients ranging from deputy cabinet secretaries to big-wig PhD/MD researchers to project managers at consulting firms like McKinsey and Deloitte. I've been in this position for 13 years, but have done similar work going back to the early 1990s. And over that time I have most definitely noticed an increase in the number of otherwise highly intelligent and educated people who have NO FREAKING CLUE how to construct a help request with adequate details and chronology to enable a diagnosis, or respond to a follow-up requesting more information. This is a typical initial contact: "HELP my program crashed it used to work but now is frozen I am on a tight deadline someone call." I'm on my third stress ball this year and they're not helping.
You see it too. It's not just me!
My favorite: "It doesn't work."
Me: What is "it"? Are you on a PC? Apple phone? Android phone? What, specifically, doesn't work? Are you using an app, or going through a browser window?
You're right, Josh, but I don't know if it's a "sizable minority" anymore. Self-centeredness/self-interest (or various degrees of narcissism) seem to guide the majority of people. Healthy personal and professional relationships are rare exceptions to the rule. And we also make too many excuses for such people ("don't look for ill will where there is mere incompetence," etc.) Again, a personal observation.
I respectfully submit that it will be easier for you to accept people who fall short of your expectations by acknowledging that they are dumber than you. In most cases they are much dumber than you.
You already know this is true, but just integrate that into your thinking as a constant reminder. The discourse about people who do not communicate effectively is valuable. I'm not suggesting you do anything different apart from ramping up the reminder.
Also, Taurine supplements help.
i would not claim that peeps in the county hood are quite so dim as you would like to think. the average Champlain dairy farmer is running a 1MM$ enterprise. it is the highest form of stupidity to think that your "social lessors" are a dim lot.
You're conflating intelligence with class position. You're defending a position that hasn't been assailed. I don't know what dairy farmers have to do with that, but that's coming from you.
class position is a marxist trope. you wish that those below you socially are not given agency.
i assume that the most gap tooth wall eyed autist has some agency. they are not dumber than you, they think your worldview is straight up retard.
as the hungarian housekeeper from my youth who had a tatoo on her forearm said calling people stupid means you are.
Believe what you want. Attribute poor communication to malice if you like. I think you're tilting at straw windmills to mix metaphors.
Ah, Mr. Slocum, haven’t you heard? Correct grammar and punctuation is a white privilege thing (so naturally) it is not being taught in the government schools.
Private schools, now that’s a cabal of another color; of course. Clear, concise communication is required there, at the training grounds of our future overlords. Much greater demands are made of those pupils than the once and future, gubmint edumakated slave classes.
Clarity of writing is likewise not a thing that is required of our slave class children (of any age) because clarity of writing requires clarity of thought. Clarity of thought requires critical thinking, and therein lies the rub. The OmniState regards critical thinkers as pests, to be exterminated forthwith.
I share your pain. I’ve been warning of this for decades. Alas, for naught. We now have several generations of Americans for whom the english language is as foreign to them as the french language is to moi.
It’s often “lesser” not “fewer”. It’s often “many” not “much”. One can simply ask, “Where are you?” rather than, “Where are you AT?” Please. Don’t end sentences with a preposition. Say instead. “Where are you at, ASSHOLE?”
Another time we can discuss the coarsening of language, ASSHOLES.
This is how much standard public education has declined in the US: My grandmother, who lived in the boondocks and married a coal miner, dropped out of school in 1936 at age 16. Nevertheless, she wrote a beautiful hand and was a real stickler for grammar. Whenever one of her children asked her, "Mom, where is X at?" she would always answer "It's right before the 'at.'"
I realized that upon earning my second college degree I was almost as well educated as my high school graduate mother.
I’m correcting adults more than children these days. Lazy idiots!!
I tend to communicate in writing using wordy (too wordy I will admit) sentences composed of multiple phrases punctuated by commas, colons, semi-colons, ellipsis, or dashes, and I even sometimes ask 2 questions in one query. Oh boy. Does this style ever result in frustrating responses. In the case of asking 2 questions, inevitably only the last question will be answered.
My verbal communications are somewhat the same way. Long phrases, punctuated with short pauses which often leads to me being interrupted by the person with whom I'm speaking.
Apologies in advance when I speak or write this way. In striving for clarity I may try a little too hard. I'll try to do better.
P.S. I'm sure my complete, grammatically correct including punctuation text messages really piss some people off. I don't care.😌
My kingdom for people who communicate the way you do.
I've taken to using numbered lists, and trying to restrict each email to only one topic. Yes, I will send multiple "annoying" emails. If I don't, and if I include three questions in one email, even if they're numbered, only one will get answered.
So true! These experiences cause me many eye rolls and under the breath mutterings castigating the responder for being so...lazy? Careless? Passive Aggressive? Maddening to say the least!
I HATE that!!!
The use of emoji’s to convey a thought or emotion infuriates me. It is the height of laziness and universally pervasive. How did this become acceptable?
The use of acronyms...... LOL, IMHO, LMAO.... ugh. At the risk of appearing snobbish, when I read these in a text or any written form I immediately assume the writer is stupid which is neither fair nor accurate . How did we adopt these terms as acceptable communication? I’m really feeling my age these days!
LOL and LMAO too often communicate glib dismissive contempt. Usually contempt by young people for anyone older than them.
People are now using national flags, too. I'm sorry, but I don't happen to know the tri-colored flag of every country on the globe, nor their two-letter country codes. Is it so damned hard to just write out the name?
Josh you nailed it. Thanks.
I too have noticed a decline in social consideration, courtesy, and empathy. There is also a peer pressure to believe the same lies. I suspect this is how journalists excuse themselves when they echo the lies approved by Rupert Murdoch, or fail to reveal terrible truths for the same reason. It is simply easier.
Everybody seems to be lazier, which is consistent with the above.
I have also noticed a lack of basic survival energy in people, presumably because of food and pharmaceutical toxicity, cumulative malnutrition, and lack of sleep. The latter was revealed by Australia's Government when it noted in 2005 that 1 in 3 people do not get enough sleep to maintain normal good health, Five years later, this was measured as 50%. The US would be much the same.
But by far the greatest cause is education system and mainstream media success in dumbing people down. When 70% of the nation believes a vaccination is safe and effective yet recipients catch covid again and again, whilst some 20% are injured or dead, then we know for sure that 70% of the population is mentally retarded. Call a spade a spade, folks, The world is now being run by cretins and psychopaths. What a lovely combo, and yet we do nothing about it.
This gentleman has also written a very good article on this topic. The lack of clarity in communication has been going on for quite some time. https://open.substack.com/pub/oxfordsour/p/the-clickbait-dictionary?r=pi0zw&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
This!!!!!