You’re Stupid :P

Modes of communication play a great role in the interpretation of what is said. Chandler says that “words have connotations which we don’t choose for them.” This very problem often makes it hard to understand what a person really means when they make a statement. The most personal form of communication is face-to-face interaction. With this form of communication we can often rely on a person’s body language. Chandler also explains that body language communicates a lot about one’s attitude. If a friend came up to you and said “You’re Stupid!”, you would be able to tell if they were joking by a smile on their face or other gestures.
With written communication, attitude interpretation becomes more difficult. Because we can not see the person that is writing or hear the intonation of their voice we have no way of interpreting their attitude. Luckily, we have come up with a way to do this. Emoticons and Internet slang are commonly used to help people interpret the attitude behind a message. If I think something is funny I can respond “lol,” meaning “laugh out loud.” If I want to jokingly tell my best friend they are stupid I can use an emoticon of a smiley face sticking out their tongue after my statement, “You’re stupid :P.” It’s very important to read your messages as if you were the receiver who doesn’t know the attitude behind your message. You don’t want to offend the listener or communication may cease altogether.