Writing is hard, writing what you mean without any possibility of misinterpretation is even harder
I just though I'd put this out there, an OP currently on the first page is complaining about the wording of a sign held by a homeless person on the side of the road and how it was offensive to the OP.
I write quite a bit and still screw up fairly regularly, imply things I didn't mean to say, have people take a completely different meaning from my words than what I intended to say by being vague. Even get things completely wrong through a brain fart, happened to me in a post today as a matter of fact.
I'd like it if we could give each other the benefit of the doubt when wordings aren't perfect, a lot of us dash posts off and don't really consider every word with the exquisite care necessary in order to be completely unambiguous. I'm certainly guilty also of jumping on language that's not precise and taking the worst possible interpretation. I do try not to be a complete ass about things but like everyone else I'm far from perfect, I have my blind spots and my prejudices.
Most of us on DU want similar things I believe but we differ wildly on strategy and tactics to get there and we also vary a great deal in our ability to express ourselves in exactly the manner we intend.
Give the other person the benefit of the doubt until you are sure of what they mean, it's ridiculously easy to misinterpret the words of others and few of us are really professional writers and not very many of us have editors for our DU posts to catch our screwups and brain farts.
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Self-effacing helps, too.
Thanks, Fume. 
Glad to R&K.
I see you caught the self-effacing part.
Back at you.
Skäl!
All too often, people can READ the words and yet SEE what they want. It's much like the global warming critics: Global averages be damned! I've got 6 feet of snow in my yard that's never been there before!
So let's treat him like some teabagger who misspells "moron".
[hr][font color="blue"][center]TECT in the name of the Representative approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]
Even if they can't misunderstand they still will anyway.
We seem to have a few posters who specialize in that. 
Well said. I know I made a mistake or two in what I meant in that exact thread, and ended up having to clarify what otherwise came off as not so nice 
I will not tolerate misinterpreting poorly worded posts.
I'll put all you fuckers on ignore.
Absolutely!
No, not really.
For some of us it's all we got and you want to take it away. In fact, I am misinterpreting your post right now, not that you'd know since you already put me on ignore.
for us all.
As an aside, sadly, their are many, many sexist women as well. Both men and women's ideas are similarly influenced by the culture.
And for the record, I do not begrudge a guy for theoretically choosing the wrong word. I just can't stand to see, what appears to me to be someone being ganged up on relentlessly. So, I think your original OP and my post were actually making the same point, in the end.
Thanks for talking with me!
I can't even imagine how terrified and sad I would be without shelter and companionship. I really don't think I'd make it long. You must be an incredibly strong person. 
I do not begrudge the guy or his choice of words. I'm not arguing the merits of the original post, I'm just sick of people belittling every women's issue topic that comes up.....including the belittling the poster. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts with me and it has helped me relate better to why people had such a strong reaction to the original OP.
DU recently helped out a member who was about to become homeless, it's not forbidden to ask for help on here.
last night and got my first ever "hide post" in 13 years. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
I only apologize that my avatar, the famous sign from the Memphis sanitation worker's strike of 1968, proposing the dignity of all individuals, apparently led some to think I am a man, and I was therefore accused of sexism. Or maybe they know I am not a man, and felt I committed the cardinal sin of emasculating someone who is a man. (That appears to be the biggest no no of all.)
Whatever the case. I wrote what I meant, in righteous indignation. And I don't apologize for that at all.
I got my first hide in several years recently for pretty much the same reason, that and the jury didn't take the time to look at an already hidden post to which I was referring.
As Skinner says, you takes your chances.
Bully!
And yeah, having someone with you who you know cares is a huge morale boost.
that they're editing, for that reason.
That takes quite a bit of smarts to substitute a synonym like that, I'd think. I wonder if it's a different neural pathway from how most people read, Wernicke's area must be involved? She must be very, very facile with language! Sounds like it's at least partly due to your making words interesting for her.
When I try to instruct our son and others on how to write, I tell them that written language serves to approximate speech. Hear the speech in your mind, then use the words and punctuation necessary to specify what you hear. Put a comma when you pause, a paragraph where you take a breath and so forth. Punched-up writing is as interesting as the punched-up speech it recreates.
Her first husband was a Marine NCO when they were married and several years after and she picked up some interesting vocabulary from being a Marine wife.. I've heard drill instructors with less command of colorful invective, it's something to behold..
My grandkids step very lightly indeed...
above most of the people I know. It is rare to have someone reflect on what they wrote and delete it imo. No matter what she meant, she showed a lot of maturity and decided it wasn't worth fighting about. I can't say I am big enough to do that.
As for writing, we all fuck up trying to say what we mean at times. Maybe you are right and there was something from her history that provokes that response. I admit I didn't not even think of that.
The guy was just looking for some help. Really hard to criticize someone holding up a sign that shows they have nothing in life but a piece of cardboard and a marker. 
As a writer, I'm frequently surprised (and frustrated) by how few people understand that there's a difference (to paraphrase Truman Capote) between typing and writing.
No clue about appropriate word choice, tone, context, etc.
I don't believe the homeless person with the sign intended to imply that he saw women as objects to possess. It sounded to me that he was just lamenting how his life is devoid of meaning: a meaningful job, a meaningful relationship, a meaningful purpose.
When I read that OP, I remembered my reaction to that Rolling Stone article on the now discredited rape story at UVA. When it was first published, I was unable to finish reading the article because of its disturbing nature and, specifically, because of the quote: "Hold its motherfucking leg" (or something close to that).
I was enraged and literally made sick to my stomach by someone dehumanizing another human being like that; it bothered me so much, I couldn't finish reading the article.
So I get how one can be outraged at dehumanizing a woman into an object. I just didn't see where that homeless guy was expressing such a despicable sentiment based on what was in the OP.
Even been published a bit. Heh..... the actual words and their spelling is the easy part. It's WHAT they convey thru the way you've strung them together that'll always be vulnerable to interpretation.
