What We Say Versus What Others Hear

I recently wrote a corporate brochure for a client who is great to work with. Her comments are always useful and improve the quality of the finished product. We had a really interesting discussion about one section of the brochure which was talking about the company’s long-term relationships with their distributors, many of whom have been working with the company for more than 20 years. That’s quite an accomplishment. I wrote a sentence talking about the company forging long-term relationships, because in my mind, forging is something that creates a long-lasting bond. Her response was that since forging also means faking something, shouldn’t we use another word? Now, I knew the secondary meaning.  But until she pointed it out, it hadn’t bothered me. That particular verbiage is in common usage, but it struck a bad note with her.

What interested me was how we both read the same sentence, yet interpreted it differently. Perhaps it’s cultural, perhaps it’s a question of context, but it was great to be reminded that we have to be careful and sensitive in our word choices. What’s obvious to us isn’t obvious to others. And what we mean isn’t necessarily what others hear.

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