Misunderstood  PRO

MISUNDERSTOOD

It's easy to be misunderstood. Misunderstanding happens all the time. It is very, very easy to be misunderstood.

One way to be misunderstood is to be vague and hazy. Just mumble under your breath and utter ambiguities, and I guarantee that you will be misunderstood. Some of you are devotees of the mystery show, "Rumpole." Rumpole is a lawyer in a British courtroom, and he has a way of voicing unflattering opinions of the judges. But he always does it under his breath, with a carefully chosen mumble, and with words which can easily be switched around, just in the nick of time. The judge kind of thought he heard him saw, "Blithering old idiot"; but when challenged Rumpole explains that he really said, "Blizzard in the thicket."

You can be misunderstood, if you like, by being vague and hazy.

Or, you can be misunderstood if you speak in formalities and technicalities. If you persist in using specialized, technical jargon, you can be misunderstood by us lesser mortals, who are not initiated in the ways of your world.

There was the lawyer in a personal injury suit, for example, who asked the plaintiff, "And is it true that you were shot in the lumbar region?" The answer came back, "No sir, we weren't in the woods at all."

The follow-up question, "Well, sir, I understand you and the defendant were involved in an altercation". "Oh, no sir, he's not my tailor."

Let's try again, "But didn't he shoot you in the fracas?" "Well, I would say it was about midway between the fracas and the navel!"

If you insist in speaking in technicalities, you can easily be misunderstood.

There are other possibilities, if you are interested in being misinterpreted. You can talk to people who are so woodenheaded and distracted, that they don't really hear you. They hear you but they don't hear you. Richard Nixon was shaking hands at an airport one day, and a little girl asked, "How is Smokey doing?" Nixon looked puzzled, and so an aide whispered in his ear, "Smokey the Bear, National Zoo". At that the president's face brightened, he...