Message #41060

[mccoy]

Language conveys very imperfectly thought. Language is often perceived differently than what you want to express, according to the listeners' individual variability, biases, mental attitudes, or whatever. This assumes that the language was correct to start out with, otherwise more layers of uncertainty are added.

I find that often it requires a significant effort to try and have your thought perceived without distortions. And sometimes the bias in the perceiver is such that you  cannot convince them that the meaning was not what was perceived.

Bottom line: language is what makes out humans from animals, but such a wonderful gift is very imperfect anyway.