Words&Minds. Chapter 2 Laying the Foundations.

Mercer starts off this chapter, by writing about the realm of what beholds our language and dichotomy for our society, communications. Instead of thinking of communication as a linear process or path vector path, Mercer assesses that communication is rather a dynamic and ambiguous in nature. Contextual foundation is needed to understand the opinion or rationale of the person you are talking to or an audience, this again alludes to Mercer’s thoughts on the process of interthinking. Context is always is needed to make your communication more enticing to others by use of demonstrative devices during your conversations. Mercer writes about explanation, interpretation, and negotiation as being expressly used for ground rules for these conversations.

This reminded me of a fishing story my father told me awhile ago:

My dad and a friend were going out fishing, they were pulled over by a county police boat to check if they had fishing license. As dad only bought one license both so both men could not fish. As the officer checked the IDs, he asked my dad who the other man in the boat was. My dad stated “He is a rider”. Once the officer was finished checking my dad's paperwork he turned to my dad’s friend and said “and who do you write for?”

One word in the conversation of dialect threw off an individual’s train of thought, the police officer assumed the other person was an author instead of a rider or passenger in the boat. Actually he was not an author but he was proud to be famous for a moment.