The words we use

For the past thirty years I have lived in countries in which English is not the language of the street – nor that which comes naturally to those I talk with. That quickly makes one very sensitive to the very different meanings words are capable of holding.

Dave Pollard’s latest article is a tough one about “The Illusion of Communication” which he starts thus -

The cognitive linguist George Lakoff describes how our language and our conditioning, from very early in our lives, form our beliefs, hopes and expectations (collectively, our worldviews), and that the way we think is primarily through frames and metaphors (we learn metaphorical thinking at age two). Our worldviews in turn directly affect what we do and don’t do. 

“The theory that communication is embedding thoughts and ideas into language and then transmitting them to another who then assimilates the same thoughts and ideas, simply doesn’t work”, George says. Only if the sender and receiver share worldviews, frames and metaphors will there be understanding, and without understanding there is no communication. And what is not understood — which is everything that doesn’t fit the listener’s worldview and ways of thinking — will simply not be heard. We are also, George asserts, incapable of learning about anything we don’t care about, since we will not even be trying to understand.

Pollard then goes on to explore how few of the messages managers try to communicate in the workplace are actually understood – and that’s when they’re actually speaking the same language!

I know that when I speak at courses and Conferences, I would always track down the interpreters and summarise for them the key messages I was trying to communicate.  

I have always been fond of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets not only for its Zen like sense of time and the puniness of our efforts but for its emphasis on the fragility of words – thus, in “Burnt Norton”

Words strain,

Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,

Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,

decay with imprecision, will not stay in place

You can read the entire poem here. And East Coker has a section I use a lot – 

So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years

Trying to learn to use words, and every attempt

Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure

Because one has only learnt to get the better of words

 Pollard is actually pretty pessimistic about our ability to share our thinking (let alone convince others) - suggesting that poems and pictures have more potential. I totally agree. I generally make sure that my presentations have a poem or a painting….It certainly wakes people up! 

So, best, I think, to be an artist, to use the wiles of song and paint and poetry (full of metaphor and reframing) to slip into the spaces where the listener’s or viewer’s worldview is not locked tight, and to accept that, while your work may transport and even transform them, that will happen in ways you cannot control or even imagine.

And if you are not an artist, and disposed to muddle with the messy imprecision of words, you can only try to throw as many interesting, provocative, imaginative, ideas, possibilities, insights, connections, confirmations, refutations, imaginings, challenges, and stories at your poor, unsuspecting audience (hopefully articulately and fairly and not manipulatively), and see what sticks, what their lifelong conditioning has made them, just now, ready to hear, to entertain, and to admit.

In doing that, you might well change their conditioned beliefs, worldview, and future behaviours. Though of course, that only happened because your conditioned beliefs and worldview necessitated that you try to do so.

When it comes to communication, that’s the best we can do, or hope for. 

Orwell gave us a practical checklist of strategies for avoiding such mindless momentum of thought and the stale writing it produces: 

“A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:
- What am I trying to say?
- What words will express it?
- What image or idiom will make it clearer?
- Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

And he will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly? But you are not obliged to go to all this trouble. You can shirk it by simply throwing your mind open and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in. They will construct your sentences for you — even think your thoughts for you, to certain extent — and at need they will perform the important service of partially concealing your meaning even yourself”. 

A year or so ago I stumbled on a useful format to help me present my thoughts more briefly and clearly – viz a table with questions such as what had sparked off the thoughts and what the basic message was which I wanted to leave with the reader.

And an old article on Economical writing shows the way by being divided into 28 sections - each of which is headed by a delightfully short and clear statement or injunction viz 

The author (McCloskey)'s injunction	What I think (s)he Means
“Writing is the economist’s craft”	Most economists are so focused on the message that they forget they are engaged in communications – which implies a reader
“Writing is thinking”	Most writing is thinking aloud…trying to clarify one’s own confusions….to be ready for an audience, it needs to go through about a dozen drafts
“Rules can help, but bad rules hurt”	A lot of books have been written about how to improve one’s writing style – some of them downright silly
“Be Thou clear”	Clarity is not the same as precision – and requires a lot of experiment and effort. Indeed I would rephrase the adage as “Strive to be Clear”
“The detailed rules are numerous”	“most advice about writing is actually about rewriting”!
“You too can be fluent”	Contains some lovely advice about the process of composing and transposing one’s thoughts and words
“You will need tools, tax deductible”	On the importance of words
“Keep your spirits up, forge ahead etc”	We’ve got to get the words flowing on the paper….don’t be a perfectionist….it’s just a first draft…many more to go!
“Speak to an audience of human beings”	Probably the most important point….who is the paper for? Imagine a typical reader!
“Avoid boilerplate”	Don’t use clichés or chunks of text everyone thinks thei understand
“Control your tone”	You can (and probably should) be conversational – but if you want to be taken seriously don’t joke around
“Paragraphs should have points”	Readers hate to see several pages of only text. Break it up when you sense you’re moving to a new point
“Use tables and graphics – and make them readable”	For me, crucial
“Footnotes are nests for pedants”	Love it!
“Make your writing cohere”	Very interesting section with points I had never come across before
“Use your ear”	A sentence consists of a subject, verb and object, We often overburden with qualifying clauses.
“Avoid elegant variation”	Clumsy way of saying we should not use a lot of adjectives or adverbs to say the same thing
“Check and tighten; rearrange and fit”	Priceless advice….we should be doing this all the time
“Rhetorical questions?”	Interesting question
“Use verbs, active ones”	Some good points made
“Avoid words that bad writers use”	Some very useful examples given
“Be concrete”	Great example of circumlocution
“Be plain”	Cut out the flowery language
“Avoid cheap typotricks”	Don’t use acronyms
“Avoid this, that, these, those”	Useful point
“Above all, look at your words”	Words so easily take over our thoughts. Be suspicious of the words that come initially to mind ….