Spoken words really speaks

Words are part of most people's everyday life; both yours and mine. Most of us communicate with others orally rather than in written mode on most occasions as it is a fast and efficient way of passing our thoughts. This is verbal communication.

Verbal communication expresses ideas, opinions, emotions, feelings and relationship in spoken words. It can be the most direct way of expressing one's opinions and feelings at the exact moment, and can yet be the most implicit one at times. It all depend on how you phrase what you intend to say and the tone that you adopt. Obviously, different sentence construction and tone leaves you with different results.

• You can have the positive ones like this:

Kate Winslet was so happy to receive the Golden Globe this year for Best Actress. If she had went on and gasped for the remaining 4 minutes or so, would anyone ever know who she really wanted to thank? We'll only know she's really happy and ecstatic. Leonardo DiCaprio and Sam Mendes might not know how much she really wanted to thank them. Her grateful speech won her thunder of applause. Verbal communication is at work.

• You can have negative ones like this:

Serena Williams, currently seeded World No.2 for women's tennis, was disqualified from the U.S. open and fined for the tirade. We know she was frustrated over the match as she had lost a couple of pretty crucial points. She made it clearer by scolding the line judge in the face, with rather impolite sentences and harsh tone. It's clear. She's unhappy. Direct but undesired outcome.
She got to vent her anger & frustration accumulated from the match through the series of scoldings though. She was disqualified, yes, but she got to let it all out. Maybe there's a little comfort there? In this case, verbal communication can be a form of stress relief as well.

Warning! Negative effects may ensue though. Try it at your own risk.

• Or you can have the unclear ones like this:

Did Mr. Obama really mean it when he said that? Or was he joking? It's really hard to tell, isn't it? He was giving his opinion when called West 'jackass'. But I suppose he ought to clarify himself a little given the fact that he's a President.

• There are advantages and disadvantages of verbal communication. However, if you do not speak at all, you'll probably end up like this:

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=6663629

Guys, you have to watch this (could not get the embed code unfortunately). It's REALLY FUNNY and kind of warm. Dad, Steve Monforto, caught a hard to come by foul ball hit by Jayson Werth during the Phillies match, passed it to his adorable 3 year old daughter, Emily, and........she throws it back down! Dad embraces her in his arms later on.
There was no sign of verbal communication between them; just a little high five and Steve passed the baseball to Emily. If he could have just said a simple 'keep it' or 'let's take it home', little Emily might not have threw the exclusive souvenir back. It's all good fun and laughter in this case but it is still a pity.
(Happy fact: each of the family members received personalised Phillies jerseys and Steve received a ball signed and presented by Jayson Werth later on.)

What if it was a situation like when you are hopelessly in love with someone but you just can't pluck up the courage or refuse to lose some 'face' and continue keeping mum about it? Or maybe when you choose to text him/her about how you feel towards him/her but there was some technical problem with the service resulting in the message not reaching the other party? He/She will never know how you feel. You might lose a love and a possible life partner.

YES. I know some of you might be thinking: 'such coincidence will only happen in TV dramas'. Well, you never know!


So you see, verbal communication is extremely important in passing on messages. However, one must also be aware of the words/language/sentence/tone of what one uses as he/she speaks. This is because the wrong usage of these might rouse misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the receiver. Moreover, like one of my classmates, Jeremy, suggested in his blog, good command of the particular language that one is conversing in is also essential in aiding his/her construction of a conversation and interpreting that of others', thereby reducing possible misunderstandings, confusions or conflicts.

In verbal communication, words and language are the supporting pillars; choosing them wisely will, doubtlessly, reduce the chances of unpleasant situations from arising. Don't you think?