OK. You say what you mean. What some of us have said to you in various ways,
is that you sound pedantic. Look it up. You may not mean to, but that's how
you come across.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Loran Bailey [mailto:rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2016 9:35 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; 'Miriam Vieni'
Subject: More On Tone
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.
