Let's say two co-workers don't get along and they're corresponding via e-mail. Do you think one can sense the other's irritation through text, even if it's not expressed explicitly?
2006-10-04 08:39:49 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Psychology
Hmmmm, let's see. I complained to my editor that it sucked that I wasn't allowed to write retorts (as a writer for the paper) because I wanted to respond to the last editorial. I said, "I guess I would have been more offended if the article hadn't been so glaringly stupid."
Think he sensed my hostility?
I guess if you're no good at disguising your tone in your writing, then another person would easily pick up on hostility, latent or otherwise. Email is notoriously bad at camouflaging all tone, all humor, all "just kidding"--hence, emoticons to try to soften the blow. But they don't really work--email lacks the subtle clues you pick up on in a conversation by phone or in person.
But based on my experiences in offices, all that hostility isn't latent at all. You'd have to be a real numbskull to not know somebody had a beef with you in an office. Everybody's all up in everybody else's bidness--offices are always a little evil and if they're not, it's just because somebody brought in a giant cake and everyone's in a temporary sugar-and-fat stupor brought on by icing roses.
Moral of the story: never say something in email that you wouldn't say the exact same way in person. What you say will always be taken the worst way possible.
Thus endeth the lesson.
2006-10-04 08:50:14 · answer #1 · answered by SlowClap 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think it depends on the sensitivity of the people involved. People say under-cutting things all the time around us, and my mom notices it, but I never do.
And you've got to be reading an e-mail lacking in subtlety or looking for trouble in order to find emotional undertone in written words.
2006-10-04 08:56:05 · answer #2 · answered by MornGloryHM 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
5^ to ESweetpea
2006-10-04 08:52:14 · answer #3 · answered by sage seeker 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most likely. Even if you don't mean to put emotion into your words, subconsciously it ends up there.
2006-10-04 09:08:12 · answer #4 · answered by BeezKneez 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oh yeah.
2006-10-04 09:04:15 · answer #5 · answered by Ha Ha Charade You Are................... 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a i think that it can happen. imposible is imposible.
2006-10-04 08:50:20 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋