Day 2 of my blog tour

My world-wide blog tour continues:

Helping Clients Who Have Language Challenges (Personal Injury and Social Security)
Robert A. Kraft blog
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/367487/31371718

Have you been puzzled by the garbled words that appear in some conversations on the Internet--especially on photo captions? Me, too. Well, today I came across an explanation.

Since you must be into the use of language--you are reading this blog--learn about the relatively new language LEET, or l33t.

Here is a short explanation from "Silly Internet Traditions: A Concise History":

"Leet" is essentially a form of Internet slang that has been developed haphazardly over the years by both the hacking and online gaming communities. Short for "elite," Leet has slowly migrated over the past 13 years from small hacker groups to mainstream Internet language (see also: LOLCats). While the language's intentional misspellings and grammatical idiosyncrasies are too numerous to list in this space, here are some general rules to remember when trying decipher Leet messages: first, most vowels (a, e, i, and o) are changed into corresponding numbers (4, 3, 1, 0). Second, the suffix "-xor" is often used to replace the suffix "-er" - thus, the word "hacker" is frequently translated into "haxxor" or "h4xx0r."

And some detail at the BBC, An Explanation of l33t Speak.

Framing Your Message

Framing Your Message
Help your reader get the picture...

Make your communication more effective but paying attention to more than vocabulary and grammar.

By filtering out distractions and barriers to effective communication, some writing techniques ensure that your message is received as sent. Plain language process also produces content that is easily accessed. One way this can be assured is framing your message.

In-text message framing uses word or phrase "frames" that situate your message in a context as an aid to comprehension. Framing creates a structure or framework to hang your message on. A good frame is the underpinning that helps your message get built and stay built. Words or strings of words that are used to define, repeat or reinforce your message are called in-text framing... Read the full article

C is for Consent

The Wall Street Journal report "The Informed Patient" starts with this unsurprising info:
"Informed consent may be the biggest misnomer in medicine: Studies show that most patients don't read the forms they sign before undergoing surgery or medical treatment. More than half of those who do read the forms don't understand them, and only a quarter of forms include all of the data patients need to make an informed decision."

Beware the AutoAntonym

Today's post is inspired by a recent Word of the Day from dictionary.com

Word of the Day Archive
Wednesday December 19, 2007

discursive \dis-KUR-siv\, adjective:
1. Passing from one topic to another; ranging over a wide field; digressive; rambling.
2. Utilizing, marked by, or based on analytical reasoning -- contrasted with intuitive.

Discursive comes from Latin discurrere, "to run in different directions, to run about, to run to and fro," from dis-, "apart, in different directions" + currere, "to run."

Wikipedia

A word that can be used, depending on the circumstance, to mean both of two opposite concepts.

• Auto-antonyms are the same words that can mean the opposite of themselves under different contexts or having separate definitions
  • enjoin (to prohibit, issue injunction; to order, command)
  • fast (moving quickly; fixed firmly in place)
  • cleave (to split; to adhere)
  • sanction (punishment, prohibition ; permission)
  • stay (remain in a specific place, postpone; guide direction, movement)

Sanctions are frequently called for on the politcial stage and in the law. Sanction is one of those duplicitous words-- it can can mean both reward and punishment.

This is a type of word to avoid. You cannot count on you reader giving the same interpretation to the circumstances that you do. So you cannot be sure your meaning will be understood. Far better to choose a simpler word.

Don't assume common knowledge

I just returned from a cross-country trip, and found this in my email, via Newswise:

Some people face their biggest problem with communication when sharing new information with people they know well, newly published research at the University of Chicago shows.

Because they already share quite a bit of common knowledge, people often use short, ambiguous messages in talking with co-workers and spouses, and accordingly unintentionally create misunderstandings, said Boaz Keysar, Professor in Psychology at the University of Chicago.

“People are so used to talking with those with whom they already share a great deal of information, that when they have something really new to share, they often present it in away that assumes the person already knows it,” said Keysar, who with graduate student Shali Wu tested Keysar’s communication theories and presented the results in an article, “The Effect of Information Overlap on Communication Effectiveness,” published in the current issue of Cognitive Science.

“Sharing additional [new] information reduces communication effectiveness precisely when there is an opportunity to inform—when people communicate information only they themselves know,” the researchers said.

In real life situations, the assumptions people make about what another person knows have many consequences, Keysar said. Doctors, for instance, often communicate quickly with each other and miscommunicate because they don’t realize the other physician is getting new information when they are discussing a treatment program, he suggested.

Advice for students: Beware of the saurus

Michael Leddy teaches college English and blogs at Orange Crate Art but today he has a post at LifeHack.org; use the link in the title above.

This caught my attention since I had been thinking about the very issue.

From my perspective, the issue is: what use is a thesaurus when we are trying to simplify or clarify our writing?

I think it depends on your level of writing skill or perhaps your understanding of the topic you are writing about…

If you turn to the thesaurus just to spice it up, do not bother. Eschew elegant variation, as Fowler says.

If you use the thesaurus to find the word with just the right tone and subtlety of meaning, then go forth and search.

But if you are tying to simplify your language, just use the dictionary. One of the words used to define the word you started with will probably do the job. Or it will lead you to check its own definition…

Do read the LifeHack article today.

Protocol for Ensuring Understanding

Literacy challenges facing the listener and lack of clarity from the speaker impact relations between professionals and their patients or clients.

Everyone can learn a few tricks here to improve their communication:

today from The New York Times
Knowing What the Doctor Is Talking About

Dr. Sunil Kripalani of the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and Dr. Barry D. Weiss of the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson suggest these strategies:

¶ Doctors should assess the patient’s baseline understanding before providing extensive information: “Before we go on, could you tell me what you already know about high blood pressure?”

¶ Doctors should use plain language, not medical jargon, vague terms and words that may have different meanings to a lay person. They should say chest pain instead of angina, hamburger instead of red meat and, “You don’t have H.I.V.” instead of “Your H.I.V. test was negative.”

¶ To encourage patients to ask questions, doctors should ask, “What questions do you have?” rather than, “Do you have any questions?”

¶ Doctors should confirm the patient’s understanding by saying, “I always ask my patients to repeat things back to make sure I have explained them clearly.” Or, if a new skill like using an inhaler was taught, the doctor should have the patient demonstrate the action.

¶ Then, as fail-safe measures, the doctor should provide written instructions and educational material for the patient and family to review at home.

Exploring Metaphor

Anastasia at Lawsagna offers up an interesting discussion on Chasing metaphors:

Sometimes, my brain chooses to focus on something, and I am not quite sure why. I like to indulge my brain occasionally and go with the flow.

That’s how this post started – with the flow of financial metaphors described by Roger von Oech of Creative Think:

Flood the Market Laundered Money Liquid Assets Solvency Deposits Slush Fund Pump Money In Frozen Assets Float A Loan Bank Currency Take A Bath Cash Flow Washed Up Sinking Fund Capital Drain Underwater Pricing

He calls it “The Water Model of Finance.” I have used those terms many times, but I have to admit I have never thought about the water metaphor. Curious… Now what about those corporate law metaphors of “White Knight,” “piercing the veil,” “poison pills,” “crown jewel”?

It made me wonder about the effects of metaphors on our thinking and learning. And the metaphors kept coming…

I came across a post of Eide Neurolearning Blog on Metaphorical Thinking. It talks about how “[w]e often think, decide, and plan based on metaphorical assumptions of which we may not be fully aware.” It describes a study that asked college students to choose a metaphor that best descibed their learning during lecture classes: "Sponge," "Tape Recorder," "Stenographer," "Code Breaker," "Reporter," and "Explorer". The choice of metaphors was fairly predictive of the students’ preferred note-taking practices. The study posited that the students’ conceptual models could either facilitate or hinder their learning. Which metaphor would you choose to describe yourself?

Analogy thinking is big in law. When lawyers talk about precedent, they make analogies between the fact pattern of their case and the fact patterns of the previously decided cases. "Is my case more like this one or that one?" Metaphors help to bridge the gap. However, because we are not always fully aware of our metaphorical assumptions, we can fall into a hidden trap. The Volokh Conspiracy has a post on dangers of believing your own metaphors.

What are the metaphors you live by?

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My thanks to Anastasia for allowing me to reproduce her posting.