Say What You Mean to Say (or at least try to…)

In the last week I keep hearing the phrase “I didn’t mean that” or some version thereof.  It’s actually laughable to me — or at least it’s become laughable, now that I’ve passed through the curiousity and frustration   And it has me realizing how seldom people stop to think ab out what they’re saying before they actually speak.

Let me be clear; I’m not suggesting for a moment that I’m somehow exempt from this phenomenon.  After all, I’m as human as the next person.  And I too have moments where words come out of my mouth, I hear them, and then go “that’s not what I meant”.

In light of the numerous experiences I’ve had with this sort of interaction over the past week, I’m in a place right now of challenging myself a little.  Inviting myself to slow down and be sure that the words coming out of my mouth actually reflect my meaning.  I know that I won’t always get this right.  After all, one of the things about language — particulary the english language — is that words can have multiple meanings, which means that whole phrases can be misinterpreted if one assumes a meaning other than what was intended.  For example, yesterday I received an email with the subject line “funny email from this address” — which I opened, expecting to have a good laugh.  Instead, what become obvious after I read the email a couple of times, was that the sender was using the word “funny” to mean “unusual or suspect” — and was in fact warning people that she hadn’t sent an earlier email.

Bottom-line: I guess I’m inviting us all — myself included — to slow down just a smidge and ensure that our words match our meaning.  While I can’t control how someone interprets my words, I can do my best to minimize what’s open to interpretation.  So I’m going to strive to turn up the dial on saying what I actually mean to say.