Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Robert Arrowsmith
link Robert Arrowsmith
CMI Publisher
I’m on the road from Portales to Clovis and on the radio the chorus “Why you gotta be so rude I’m gonna marry you anyway” from the song “Marry that Girl” by Magic! is playing. And I am thinking who in their right mind is going to dance to a song with an upbeat tone with those lyrics?
I have poked fun of this song repeatedly to others, and mocked what I thought were the lyrics, and it’s been a good laugh in those conversations.
The lyric is “Marry her anyway” not “Marry you anyway.” This one word changes the entire perception of the song. Turns out the song is not about a one on one conversation where the singer is asking why you are being the way you are, but it is a conversation between the singer and the girl’s parent in terms of having the daughter’s hand in marriage, and trying to do the right thing.
I bring this light because I had broken my own rule. I had passed judgment on something or someone based on a small sample of what I thought I had known without knowing all the facts.
I do not know the person or their background so I took what I thought was the message and ran with it. I didn’t read the entire message before creating my own impression. One simple word wrong turned out to change the entire interpretation of the message. Reading the entire lyrics of the song has now explained what the song is truly about, and now makes so much more sense.
Two days letter I am in an email conversation with a colleague. After what happened with the song, I made a point to read every single word in the email to make sure I was going to understand the message. I will not go in to the details of the conversation, but the words “start over” jumped out of the message.
The intent of the conversation was talking about moving forward. Yes there are those that believe that sometimes you have to take a step back in order to take two steps forward, and yes sometimes you have to scrap the direction you are going in order to progress. I know the clichés.
Understand the message you are trying to send. Make sure when you are sending something in writing that every single word you are sending means what you are trying to say.
Professional email conversation is not the same as text chat. Everything you say, every word has an impact on the message. You say one wrong word in your message, and your message can be interpreted in a whole different perspective than what is trying to be conveyed.
And by the way, do not send to colleagues when it comes to sensitive topics a message that includes words in bold or in all caps. While the understanding that this is an attempt to convey strong feelings on something, that is not how it works in email.
Bold or all caps on emotional words or topics comes across as yelling and you are going to turn the receiver out no matter how valuable the message is if it feels like they are being yelled at.
Robert Arrowsmith is publisher of Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:
