Friday, June 24, 2005

Lost In Translation

Bill Cosby once said, ~Men and women belong to different species and communication between them is still in its infancy.~ Without a doubt, men and women speak a different language that tends to be hard to understand to the point where quite possibly men are truly from Mars and women are from Venus. Since the dawn of time up to now, the way the male species has communicated both with each other, the female species, and vice versa can be considered not only a challenge for both sides, but also how utterly comical it can become when it's totally way off. For it can be a difficult situation indeed trying to decipher/interpret what not only is being sad, but also the meaning that may be behind it as well.

Let me ask you this question ladies, why do you have to go through a long drawn out story in order to get the actual topic that in our minds is what we're expecting to hear. I think I can safely say every guy has been in a situation where a particular female walked in to talk to them and started to tell him a story about bumping into an old friend. It's during their story telling a guy will inevitably nod during the story or halfway through it signifying that even though we're with you we have no earthly idea what the topic was about because the story turned off in so many directions. Let me tell you something ladies, just get to the point by saying the following: Who...what...where...and food. NOTE: Make sure to emphasize food because we'll be there no matter what.

Oftentimes, the nonverbal communication being given out can most definitely be interpreted the wrong way causing a great deal of anguish, especially if you're a guy. All men are in agreement that a women giving the silent treatment is the harshest torture they can possibly ever do particularly when we have no idea what we did. The crossed arms, hand under resting their chin, body weight shifted to one side, head tilted ever so slightly, right/left leg sticking out to the side/front, lips in what I like to call I just sucked on a lemon position, and giving the look of death are signs telling us to mentally go into DEFCON 1 because we're preparing to wait for whatever verbal/physical assault may be coming our way, which can drive any guy absolutely up the wall.

For the question can be asked, when it comes to communicating within our own species does the lack of communication cause concern? If you think about it, women love to communicate with each other to no end about their feelings while they’re embraced in a comforting hug if they're sad possibly because of a bad break up leading them to experience a plethora of emotions as tears as shed. Guys, on the other hand, there really isn't a lack of concern in communication because quite frankly we communicate through gestures, grunts, and less than 10 word sentences. Plus, if something is wrong we do not talk it out with our buddies...instead we end up doing certain activities like paintball, fishing, bowling, or something that involves blowing something up.

In retrospect, men and women will always communicate with each other differently to where such things as frustration, anger, confusion, or whatever the case may be are going to be experienced. To a woman, having a guy sit down face to face and talk with her so that they can communicate with each other instead of just one sided conversation is something truly special, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. For a guy, a woman has to understand that being able to communicate with our words is difficult, leaving us to act on how we feel to the point where our words inevitably follow. In the end, communication between the species will at times have the message be lost in translation.

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