Precision of language.

Precise language has always been important to me. Not because I'm a pedant or stickler for grammer nazi technicalities or whatever as a goal in itself. That's not it, or at least it's an incomplete reading.

It's that common agreements about language are necessary for productive conversation. There's plenty of words we use whose meanings or implications may be seen differently by the speaker than they are by the listener. Without agreed upon definitions we'll only ever talk past one another rather than developing deeper human connections with our fellow man.

It's said that he who dictates the terms of the debate has an edge. But if we can agree upon definitions and use accurate words, I feel it's much easier to learn from one another and understand others as fellow people rather than "winning". I try to start there.

I've never been as good at nonverbal communication, because there isn't an authority like a dictionary or historical precedent to ensure that what is being said is being heard as intended. We can never really know if what we mean to convey is what is being accurately understood (or should be) without authoritative guideposts.

Words are merely symbols used to express ideas, but they're not the only ones. In fact, most people seem to rely more heavily on the nonverbal bits, whether I like it or not. I've been trying to get better at those bits, but not all that successfully.

But I can say this... There are plenty of actions/symbolism/implications that are seen by different individual people or groups as something dramatically different than what is meant.