Sunday, June 1, 2008

Sarcastism!

I was with my friend in the toilet a few days back, and this other girl walked in. She went up to my friend and complimented my friend's outfit in a way that didn't seem quite right. We could see her facial expression when she commented on my friend's outfit. Obviously, she was beening sarcastic. So, my friend and I gave her back a BIG fake smile and said "thanks".

So happens this week's topic is about encoding and decoding messages. I was thinking back, and I wondered if my friend and I didn't get her sarcastic comment, what would the outcome be? Would we be labelled as dumb? Well, I definitely think so. There's the quote that says, "Language gives us the power to affect others. But language also exerts power over us.". Well, I so agree with this quote! The way we speak, the tone and volume affects us in a way of how we're feeling, and it sends the vibe to the other party. The other party decodes the message to know what we're feeling. Sometimes, we send the wrong vibe, but sometimes, the other party decodes the message wrongly too. Language is like a symbol/ tool, and only people of the same educational level and frequency can understand each other. Thus, able to decode the message how we're trying to put it across. Of course, we have to encode the message properly too!

Hence, I feel that the lessons every week helps me have a better idea of communications and it stimulates my mind by making me ask questions to myself.

3 comments:

Ian said...

Are you talking about who i think you are talking about???

I think she might just be jealous of your friends's outfit : )

lynn,xoxo said...

It's okay:) Jealousy is the best form of compliment!

BC said...

Uh oh, IDENTITY CRISIS ALERT! You know it's bad when they start getting like that!