Tags
agenda, communication, influence, language, perception, power
The Power of Language
I was having a discussion with a friend last night and it reminded me of what I had written below a couple months back. He asked me a question and I responded ‘Ok’ and for one reason or another he felt there was more and that I really wasn’t ok (which I was). It’s a bit of a random post but it reminds me how important language is in communicating.
The ambiguous ‘Ok’, a response that is both satisfactory, and wistful, inconclusive even. It leaves you wanting more, although its use is acceptable and does not necessitate that more should be said. It creates a feeling of anti-climax, yet there is nowhere else to go. This funny word ‘Ok’, and its variations. In written form, each one becomes less comforting and less personal than the last, ‘Okay, Ok, ok, k’.
“A: I have to leave now…B: Okay.”
“A: New ideas are needed for this project…B:Ok.”
“A: My mother is away at the moment but she needs someone to help out….B:ok”
“A: Everything will be fine… B: k ”
Shrouded in secrecy of the unspoken, it induces a yearning for further supplication, but to ask would seem greedy, needy, and ungrateful. Exclusivity is not singular, the receiver and speaker are both indebted to this feeling, occasionally at the same time.
‘Ok’ is not always meant in agreement but more so an indication of understanding, or a closing of matter or in many cases, gives rise to a question kept securely in the mind.
‘Ok’, akin to smoke after blowing out a candle, you know that’s the end of it, however the remnants of what used to be still linger, the smoke, swirling in the air, the smell momentarily sharp but like most things it disappears as does the feeling and all is soon forgotten.
Unanswered questions, thoughts cut short, ‘Ok’ the inception of inquisition and completion.
