Key and Peele video
When we were talking in class about conveying a message without offending anyone, this video came to mind. In any type of writing,in this case texting it is easy for someone to take offense to what you are saying, because they cannot hear how you are saying your message. Tone can often be misinterpreted by the reader. In this case, Jordan Peele wants to convey a friendly tone, while Key interprets his tone as annoyed and uncaring. I know that scenarios similar to this have happens to me because I misinterpreted tone in text messages, and comment replies on Facebook. This video shows that one sentence can be interpreted a bunch of different ways. It can be interpreted as a kind message, or a threat. For example, Key texts Jordan" You wanna go right now?" . Key wants to come off as threatening, and aggressive, because he wants to fight Jordan. Jordan interprets this an entirely different way. Jordan thinks that Key just wants to hang out at the bar right now so he responds " Okay let's go.". This comes off as aggressive to Key which leads him to think he's going to fight Jordan at the bar.
This video illustrates why conveying tone is important. It important to make sure your wording isn't in anyway threatening or offensive to your audience, or else you could end up with them blowing up on you like Key did on Jordan.
Hope you enjoyed the video. I apologize if the harsh language offends anyone .I couldn't find a censored version
I definitely have situations of misunderstanding like this texting my parents all the time. I think a lot of the time if I am texting too quickly I just talk to them like I'd talk to any of my friends, and that usually results in confusion. They haven't really adapted to the texting universe as the younger generations have, and I think that that makes it difficult for them to follow the different connotations of 'text talk' and the ways we imply sarcasm and such. Like the scenario above we are looking at the texts from two completely opposite perspectives. If I want my parents to understand everything I say to them I need to look at what I'm saying from their point of view.
ReplyDeleteI have experienced this kind of thing as well. I even have gotten used to texting different people in different ways. The way I text my girlfriend is completely different than the way I text my best friend, not just in the words that I say, but also in the way that I say them. We have come to different understandings of what different things mean when we are texting each other, but that understanding is different for different people.
ReplyDeleteI experience that as well. It's kind of weird that you can say the same thing to two different people over text and sometimes they will interpret what you said in different ways.
DeleteAfter watching the video, I've realized how often a similar situation can arise due to communication errors over social media. Our generation has been completely sucked into the world of social media with different types of communication, including texting, Twitter, and Facebook. I agree with the comments before that many people have adopted different ways of texting different people, such as parents, friends, or a boyfriend/girlfirend. For me, it is interesting when I start texting someone new. I have to get accustomed to the way they type certain words and the way in which they mean them. It is especially difficult when you have not talked to that person face to face many times before. I believe that using emojis is also an important way of communicating over social media because it adds to the tone of the message. For example, if you add a smiley face, that means you're saying your text happy or when you add a tongue face, you could be joking.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with the fact that you have to become accustomed to the way that people text. In addition to emojis, I think punctuation has a lot to do with how someone's tone is interpreted. In my experience, girls especially, will use periods at the end of short phrases or even one word when they're angry or annoyed. When I text my parents, they use punctuation at the end of every sentence, which isn't something I'm necessarily used to. I've had to take a second to think if my parents are mad at me, or if that's just how they text. The power that a simple period can have blows my mind. In addition to that, I also adjust the way I text depending on who will be receiving my message. For instance, if I'm texting an adult, I'm much more likely to speak in a very formal way.
DeleteI agree with this. I definitely take more care when texting adults. I don't use text talk where so many words are abbreviated. I remember about six years ago when my step brother was going downtown Chicago and my parents asked him a question and he answered and then he responded with "k". They were baffled that someone wouldn't take the time to put ok. Now they have started sending "k". It is interesting seeing how the generation before ours is adapting to our generations way of texting.
DeleteAs I was watching this video, it made me think of the type of audience that this scenario would appeal to. I think this was specifically aimed at our generation, since we've become so dependent on social media. I thought that this video was really funny and I know that a lot of people my age could relate. When I send texts, I don't really pay attention to the other ways and tones that my message could come across as, not until later I realize that something I said could have been sending off a harsh or unwelcoming tone.
ReplyDeleteWith the use of sarcasm now-a-days, language can be confusing. Key thought Peele had been sarcastic in most of the texts and overreacted because of the lack of detail. This hilarious video regarding a misinterpreted tone reminds me of the episode in South Park where a father was arguing with the school board's decision to eliminate Football from school because it was too dangerous. He becomes so enraged that he uses sarcasm to tell them how wrong their idea was. He sarcastically insists that the students play "Sarcastaball" in attempt to make fun of how wrong and idiotic it is to take out football from the program. Unfortunately the school board did not catch his sarcastic tone so they accidentally created Sarcastaball. It is a really strange episode because they take Sarcastaball so far in the episode that even the viewer watching South Park would not even know for sure what character is being serious. The episode presents a gigantic mix up of tone.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/vlv6BrrxD_4
http://youtu.be/RN7kVYz7GS8