Friday, September 3, 2010
Vague Sentence
I live on 11th street and last night I was unable to fall asleep until three in the morning. There were a lot of people walking up and down the street in huge mobs looking for something to do. One of my friends I live with, who also couldn’t sleep, came into my room and said, “These people mobbing up and down the street are dirty and annoying.” Well not knowing what she meant I assumed she meant the people were dirty in a promiscuous way like they were being inappropriate out in front of our house. When I asked, “Did you tell them to get a room?” She looked very confused. It was then that I realized where I misunderstood her comment. My friend was being vague when she said the groups of people outside our home were dirty. A person being dirty could mean a lot of things from being unclean to promiscuous. Although my friend and I laughed afterwards I now understand the importance if specifying what you mean.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I know exactly what you are saying because I have experienced the same thing a couple of times. I have been asleep or trying to fall asleep and been unable to sleep because of all of the noise coming from the people outside. The example you used was good because I think many people have used the word "dirty" to describe both promiscuous behavior and being unclean. I agree that you friend was being vague by using the word "dirty" even though most of the time it is referring to uncleanliness. I think everyone has a prime example of a time when they were confused by a vague sentence.
ReplyDeleteI also understand what your stating because I use the word "dirty" in many ways. The word dirty can be understood in many ways: something being filthy, dishonesty, or promiscuity. Your friend was vague because I would have thought the same thing you did. But then I could have also thought that the people were homeless so they might be unhygienic. When statements are vague, misunderstandings are very likely to occur because anyone can interpret ideas differently. This does happen a lot because many words can be understood differently because many words have multiple meanings. At least you got a good laugh about it :)
ReplyDelete