Language and communication are vital parts of our lives, most of the people don’t notice them until they experience some limitations in these areas.
One of the many useful things I found in this articles is how by changing phrasing, you can change how the phrase is perceived. I think I really can apply in my life the skill of asking people to do things for me without making it sound like an order. This will help me build more friendly and relaxed atmosphere with my colleagues, friends and family.
I definitely have not thought before about how what word symbolizes and means to us defines our attitude towards it. The example with the saliva and spit is excellent, same thing different meaning. I have never thought of this before, but after reading the chapter I realized that I have probably seen it before. At baby showers sometimes they put different kinds of chocolate in diapers, for participants to guess which kind of chocolate is there by taste, but that is not the actual challenge. We all know what diapers are for, and the contents are far from edible, they in most of the cases are perceived as disgusting. The actual challenge here is to force oneself to try the contents of the diaper despite what it symbolizes.
I think it is highly important to watch out for misunderstandings in our communications. As we grow up and develop, based on our heritage, region where ones live we develop speaking patterns and dialect. Something that can make perfect sense to us might sound strange or have absolutely different meaning to another person.
To sum up, I have to say that this chapter has been very informative and thought provoking. It gives insights into things that you stumble upon nearly every day, but definitive haven’t given them much thought.