What I am about to say here is what I have already said, but I was
sitting here thinking about it and I think I can word it to make it more
clear. In the context that the word tone has been used here of late I
really do not completely understand it, but I think I can figure it out
to some extent. The usage of the word in the context that I think I do
understand it best is the context that refers to a musical note. To get
a precise definition I would have to look it up, but that definition is
not the one that I am focusing on, so let me give a perhaps less precise
definition. As I understand it a tone is how a musical note sounds as
opposed to its just being described with some kind of notation or name.
In that case when I am told that what I have to say is in a certain tone
I think the word is being used metaphorically to describe what it sounds
like I am saying as opposed to what I actually say. In that case it is
pretty much the same thing as innuendo. That is, to use the word tone in
that manner is tantamount to saying that there are hidden meanings in
what is being said. If that is what tone is then when you detect a tone
in something I say you are falsely detecting a tone. Honestly, I don't
know how to place hidden meanings in what I have to say. If I could do
that I might have been a poet and one of the frustrating things about
poetry for me is that I am always told that it contains hidden meanings
that I should understand as obvious. What those hidden meanings, if they
are there, do for me is to just render the piece of poetry senseless. So
be assured that when you think you are detecting a hidden meaning, or a
tone, in what I say you are really only detecting something that you
have added to it yourself. That is, you are detecting your own
imagination. If you really want to understand what I am trying to say
then just pay attention to what I have actually said. Sometimes my
wording might be off. Sometimes my brain gets ahead of my typing
fingers. And there may be other reasons that I may fail on occasion to
make myself clear. But I always strive to say what I mean and mean what
I say. I believe the best way to communicate is to be clear and to avoid
ambiguity. Hiding meanings under the words one uses does not contribute
to clarity, but it does contribute to ambiguity. When I have something
to say I want it to be understood.
