chelsea headingIsn’t it amazing how different ears hear the same thing and it is interpreted in a totally different manner. Then, of course, are the jokes which are said quickly to cover a situation and they turn out not to be funny, or even humorous. Now this has probably never happened to you but it did happen to me once. Since not many people think I am funny they tend not to pay much attention anyway. But I try to watch my vocalizations when around people I am not familiar with.
A case in point was when a very strange lady came into my book department and demanded those japanese books which are cartoons and printed right to left. Her son (grandson?) wanted some and he told her we may have some. By her manner and by her constant demands to know where they were as she “had been told” we had them, I was reaching the end of my rope as i no longer was a principal dealing with sub-level middle school children. Fortunately, one of the employees who happened to know a little about the subject came by and I siced her on to him. He finally walked away as she went on to some other esoteric search.
The next day when we made eye contact I told him his Japanese friend was out there and he did not understand at all. A “strange” look would be an understatement. But as he took a few steps ahead he then heard the meaning and not the exact words. We have been able to communicate since then. The good part is that he is young and knows about comics and such so I can use him as a resource. He likes knowing that “The Book Man” thinks he has worth.
Miscommunications happen even on this writing. Sometimes I will put down something so clever it rates two Milton Beryls and occasionally a Lucy. Then I wait and hear the deafening silence of no responses. But having been raised in the music world I can forgive people who were never exposed to biting sarcasm, ego destroying personal comments and other such lighthearted attempts to draw a laugh. Hmmm, at least I hope they were jokes. Wouldn’t it be awful to go through life thinking those guys were really cutups but they were not joking, they were serious.
All that to say one must pic his/her audience when being clever. Take Facebook for example. I have seen attempts at humor that were a five star WTH? More than several each of us on Facebook has read a loaded comment underneath a posting. Then the original poster comes back with, “Hey! I was only kidding!” They just learned that the written word does not always carry the shading and “nudge, nudge, wink, wink” that the spoken word does - hopefully.
But some things going on now are not being taken as jokes. The so-called Town Hall meeting where people are demanding certain things from their elected legislators. Yes, actually I would like to go to one of those just for the excitement. I am angry enough at our Oklahoma legislators to yell at them but, like the guys from other states, they will say they will change the whatever and go back to State Capitol and pass the anti-everything bill anyway.  We people here in Oklahoma are not brave enough to have angry town halls. I suppose the majority of Oklahomans do not care enough about public schools to defend them so everybody remains at home and silent. I may have to drive down to Texas or up to Kansas so I can get all worked up and shout at some politician.
More than one person I have observed made the mistake that a very small child had the experience to discern spoken words from their meaning. A very small child takes everything literally and a person who is not a “kid person” has to learn that the hard way.   “Why don’t we take this flyswatter and just hit Grandma until she lets us play outside.” Thirty seconds later Grandpa is in a heap of trouble.  No, I didn’t do that but have seen several similar instances down through the years. Yes, I enjoyed when someone got a wake up call and learned a real life lesson.
But our country seems to be going through a period of “Then agin us” that we haven’t seen since the Uncivil War. And to my former students, NO, I wasn’t there, I just seem that old. There are other things that can go astray which seemed like a great idea at the time. In case you are wondering, the border wall probably won’t work. I just got a message where there was a cannon which shot almost 30 pounds of marijuana over the border fence. They got caught but inventions just keep getting better and better as they progress, Makes you wonder how this will end up.