Need some INFO (not legal advice) on this interesting question...

[GordonJ]

Poor little Ralphie from A Christmas Story waited anxiously for his Little Orphan Annie decoder ring...and when he decoded the secret message...

Be sure to drink your Ovaltine he responds with: A crummy commercial. Son of a bit8ch.

And there you go.

BUT, I agree with Tim when it comes to communication overall, I'm with Glenn on this one...because, as one cryptic sob to another...

these
kinds
of
communications, be they of the ReNtAmeNto r variety or of the SQ1 PictoGrigm of Persuasion kind...

they (these kinds of communiques)...serve a purpose for US.

It isn't about getting YOU to understand...it just ELIMINATES you as a target/prospect and/or potential customer.

Glenn may have a different take...can't or won't speak for him...

but there are certain people I DON'T want as a customer...couldn't pay me enough to have them...

so,

in MY use of messages, when I'm in a forum, which is like being in a bar for deaf people...

you may be "talking" to the whole bar...OR you may just be talking to the two guys in the corner...

EVERY post isn't meant to be a message from A to B...there is NO specific B. Communicating effectively

is more about the WHO you are trying to communicate with...so those general principles that TW talks about simply don't apply.

AND, since this is a business (for the most part) discussion forum...we allow different styels from the Don ALM style

OF ME BEING A GREAT ENTROOPUN OOOR

to my own use of one sentence paragraphs to all the other different styles.

If I'm looking for customers, the ones I want...then I'll use whatever the prospect is most comfortable with or what the lingo, slang or insider words they use to each other...

I don't think, although I don't know, if there are ANY rules that apply...

now,


back to Little Orprah Annie, I think Daddy WarBux is about to reveal the secret of getting rich from supplying the military with tanks that explode all by themselves...be sure to TUNE in...

Gordon Jay Alexander

PS. Some of us even develop our own lingo, like PictoGrigm, PoP, DiaGram of Life, etc.

Originally Posted by -TW

Person A conveys message to Person B.

Where I come from, it is at least as important for Person A to use language that Person B will understand, as it is for Person B to have a wide enough range of languages he/she understands.

If the sendER wants to communicate effectively he/she must take on the responsibility (as communicatOR), of doing all that is necessary to make sure the desired message is delivered PROPERLY, in a way that the sendEE will understand.

By definition, the sendEE is standing in his/her own "country." The sendER is the "foreigner," who must be sure to learn the language the sendEE speaks + understands. That's how I look at it any way.

If you send a letter, it is the responsibility of the sendER to put the right postage on the envelope, so it reaches the addressEE. It is NOT the responsibility of the addressEE to put the postage on the envelope after it is received.

Cheers. (or should I say, "cHeErzz!")

-- TW

PS: Remember, on Steve Martin's classic "Let's Get Small" album about the "Plumber's Convention" joke. Has to do with this conversation, in a way!

UPDATE: Glenn -- I found this transcript, just in case you don't know the joke I'm talking about...

“Ok, I don’t like to gear my material to the audience but I’d like to make an exception because I was told that there is a convention of plumbers in San Francisco this week – I understand about 30 of them came down to the show tonight – so before I came out I worked-up a joke especially for the plumbers. Those of you who aren’t plumbers probably won’t get this and won’t think it’s funny, but I think those of you who are plumbers will really enjoy this…

This lawn supervisor was out on a sprinkler maintenance job, and he started working on a Finley sprinkler head with a Langstrom 7-inch gangley wrench. His apprentice laughed and said, “You can’t work on a Finley socket with a Langstrom 7-inch wrench!” Well, this infuriated the supervisor, so he went and got Volume 14 of the Kinsley Manual. He opened it to page 214 and read, “A 7-inch Langstrom wrench is compatible with a Finley sprocket”. Just then the little apprentice leaned over and said, “It says sprocket, not socket!”

*SILENCE*

Were those plumbers supposed to be here this evening?