If The Language Is Not Correct by Confucius
According to Confucius:
If the language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what ought to be done remains undone…
We all know that letters, words, phrases and sentences are social handles that we use to express ourselves. What Confucius is implying here is that there are occasions when what we say out loud does not actually mean what we are trying to imply. For instance, when we want to confess to our crush and say “I like you” instead of “I love you”, our intended message doesn’t quite hit its mark. In effect, our crush believes that we are not leaning towards more intimate feelings. Take another typical scenario, wherein you ask a friend how he is doing, but he only replies “I’m fine”, even though he is clearly not.
A lot of times, people are guilty of not expressing their true intentions and emotions through language either because they are holding back, or do not know how to use the language purposefully. Above were both examples of subtle communication breakdown, since there was no shared understanding that was reached. Since we rely on language to express ourselves and understand the others around us, the incorrect usage of such will result in our wrong mental interpretations that the person speaking might have not intended. This is what Confucius meant by “if the language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant”.
Notes
Short essay for Purposive Comm. class, Jan ’21.
