So - I wrote a blog the other week about being a woman and there was quite a lot of response to it, some of which was a bit baffling...
I felt like I had said "in my opinion this wall is painted yellow" and then people kept saying "DON'T assume this wall is not red!" and I was like...um...I didn't say that...and revisiting the blog to try and figure out why and how a totally different message was being read in what I had written. I was utterly confused until I spotted the following example of why the English language is both beautiful and stupidly complex at the same time.
Near the end of the post as a defining point, I had written the following sentence - the emphasis in capitals is where I meant it to be:
"our lives are not EMPTY because we don't have kids, our lives are wonderfully full"
But it seems that just by shifting the emphasis on to a different word this sentence caused offence and seemed very provocative - it was being read, I believe, like this:
"our lives are not empty BECAUSE we don't have kids, our lives are wonderfully full".
Can you see what I mean?
I was confused as to why people kept saying that I had inferred that it was impossible to lead a full life WITH children when my point had been that it was totally possible to lead a full life WITHOUT them.
Anyway, I am still mulling on whether to edit the post to put the emphasis where it should be. I probably will because I don't want future readers to think I meant the second message and not the first.
It just goes to show that no amount of proof reading can prevent an unexpectedly reversed interpretation. It's all part and parcel of daring to say what you think online I guess and it is a minefield.
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