Universal Translators

David Musick (David_Musick@msn.com)
Sat, 9 Nov 96 00:46:06 UT


Michael Lorrey wrote to me, "You erroneously assume that every human has as
much trouble
communicating their thoughts as you do."

All my life, I have seen people having a great deal of trouble communicating
with each other. I saw it in school, when my fellow students would ask the
teachers questions, and a great deal of the time, the teacher wouldn't
understand what they were asking or else think they were asking something
else, and so they would answer very inadequately, leaving the student baffled.
I understood exactly what my fellow students were asking, and I understood
how the teachers misinterpreted them. I have seen miscommunication like this
all my life. I often act as a mediator between people who are talking to each
other but can't understand each other, even though they are both fluent
speakers of English. One person says something, and the other is baffled, and
I restate it for them in better terms, and the person they are talking to
understands. I'm often saying, "What he's trying to say is..."

I am actually a far better communicator than most humans. Most humans have
much more trouble expressing things than I do. My assumption is not in error.
Humans DO have a difficult time communicating with each other, except about
certain, limited topics.

- David Musick

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