A business collaboration to which I recently presented a series of classes has its own social-network type website, and over the course of the last week, I kept noticing but not reading a particular entry from one of the participants. The headline caught my eye because it made no sense to me, but, as do we all, I must limit my reading time, and since neither the headline nor the meaning I attributed to it (and thus attributed to the contents of the article) interested me, I didn’t read the post.
Given the context of the group, the somewhat promotional nature of many of the blog posts, the number of alternative healers and therapists participating, my own cluelessness about American popular culture, and certain elements of my own history, I assigned my own meaning to the headline “Ollie Olle Oxen You’re Free, It’s Safe Now!”.
I had never heard the term before. I thought “Ollie Ollie Oxen” was some type of proprietary vitamin supplement, probably from a company in a Midwestern state known to have a large population descended from a specific immigrant group. “Ollie Ollie” sounded Scandinavian, and I assumed “Oxen You’re Free” referred to oxygen or free radicals or something in the supplement mix. Similarly, I thought “It’s Safe Now” probably had something to do with the FDA threatening to close the company for including in the product a herb or mineral on a FDA watch list, and forcing the company to remove the offending ingredient from Ollie Ollie Oxen’s contents. (Years ago, I bought several bottles of a product with an unusual name and a similar FDA scenario!)
Last night, I finally got around to opening the post to read it. Multi-tasker and investigator that I am, as I waited for the page to load, I simultaneously ran a Google search on “Ollie Ollie Oxen” so I could learn about the product and the company behind it.
I ended up reading the Google search results before the post, as I was mystified: I couldn’t find anything about a product or company related to Ollie Ollie Oxen. What I found were definitions and etymologies, which described the phrase as being something kids say when they play hide-and-seek and tag. I played both games as a kid, and don’t recall ever hearing or using the phrase. (Yes, I grew up in the U.S., although in a rather unique place that didn’t fit a suburban Midwestern stereotype, despite Lake Forest’s geographical location.)
When I finally read the post, it wasn’t about my imaginary health product, or hide-and-seek. I don’t really recall what the post discussed. What stood out in my mind was the disparity between what the writer thought she was conveying with the headline, and what I was hearing and assuming.
In this case, it’s really funny. I’ve been laughing at myself every since. The friends of whom I’ve asked “Are you familiar with the phrase. . . ” find my cluelessness hilarious.
However funny, this also points to a common communications pitfall.
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
~ George Bernard Shaw
Others don’t hear what we say (or write). Others hear what they hear, which may or may not be in alignment with what we said or wrote.
If we are not clear in what we state, and if we don’t check with our audience or co-communicators to learn what they heard or read from our statement, we’re only assume we’re communicating. The same goes for the recipients, the co-communicators receiving the message.
In this case, the writer made assumptions about how the headline would be understood, based on her knowledge, history, and context. I made assumptions, based on my knowledge (or lack thereof; the phrase had no meaning for me), history and context (of having bought oddly-named and FDA-pursued products sold by a similar demographic), and brain (which works quite oddly) about what the headline meant.
Hilarious in this case, but a good reminder to us all (me included!) to make certain we clarify our side of communications as well as possible, and engage with our co-communicators (audiences, communities, colleagues, clients, other communicators . . . everyone) to learn how they heard and understood what we thought we communicated.
Communication strives for common understanding and demands shared effort and participation. Communication is a loop, which, when tangled, can lead to disastrous — or sometimes hilarious — results.
Dare I write “Tag – you’re it” to include you in this ongoing game called communication?
The word communications comes from the Latin verb communicare, which derives from communis, or common.
