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Do you communicate better when writing or talking?
Writing 82%  82%  [ 27 ]
Talking 3%  3%  [ 1 ]
About the same for both 15%  15%  [ 5 ]
Total votes : 33

Elemental
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08 May 2007, 5:18 pm

Something I've realised recently is that I talk very differently from the way I type. With the latter, I have the luxury of being able to respond at my own pace, edit and self-censor things that seem a poor choice of words, and change words in order to give the impression I want.

When I talk, I tend to be a lot more hesitant. I usually speak in bursts of three to six words with pauses between, and use quiet noises that aren't quite articulated ("Uh-huh." "Tnks." "Sry") to convey simple concepts when I don't need to speak properly (getting past a stranger in a hallway, for example). It's like proper speaking requires a conscious effort which I don't always do if distracted or rushed. I'm also conscious of the tone of my voice, and often worry that my tone will be inappropriate unless I consciously adjust it.

At a guess, I come across as more articulate when writing, than when speaking. How about you? Does your writing style resemble your speaking style much?



Valhalla
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08 May 2007, 5:34 pm

I'm pretty much like you, don't and can't really talk to strangers and even people I know, unless it's one of my interests where I don't know when to shut up and even at that I talk too fast and ramble so much so it doesn't make much sense.

I'm by far better at communicating when I write or type, just gives me time to analyze what I'm saying, the relevance of what I'm saying with the context and I don't get nervous when I write.



KimJ
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08 May 2007, 5:42 pm

I'm much better at exposition when writing versus speaking. Especially if it's something that I'm feeling emotional about. However, I'm lacking in the creative writing dept. :) I can tell jokes and make funnies better than writing them.



Sopho
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08 May 2007, 6:07 pm

I definitely respond better through text. A lot of the time I can't communicate well at all when I'm speaking. I find it a lot easier to write it down.



lelia
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08 May 2007, 6:12 pm

Speaking and writing are two different animals.
When my husband start to get emotional about a disagreement, we separate and write out our arguments, and then give them to each other the next day or later if it takes a long time to think out what we want to say.



Cade
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08 May 2007, 6:14 pm

I'm better at writing than talking. My thinking is much clearer and freer when writing/typing than when I talk. I'm also far more verbose when writing too, although at times I've been known to be rather chatty when talking. When I talk, I often have to spend energy tending with social skills, containing any anxiety, and dealing with sensory distractions, so I'm just not as "sharp" when talking as I am when writing. I'm pretty good at talking when it's something I know about, but casual conversation is harder.

I'm also terrible at telling jokes. My humor's so dry that many people miss it or mistake it for something else (like rudeness or arrogance), whether spoken or written. I'm just used to it now, although it seems people catch on to my humor better in person than in writing/online because I don't carry myself like a rude or arrogant person. Smarter people kind of figure out that if someone so laid back and unimposing says something so blunt and fortright there's probably a tinge of humor behind it.



richie
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08 May 2007, 6:24 pm

Lately, thanks to this forum, I've been writing more than speaking.
With writing I have time to organize my thoughts and plan what I'm going
to say.



agentcyclosarin
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08 May 2007, 6:49 pm

richie wrote:
Lately, thanks to this forum, I've been writing more than speaking.
With writing I have time to organize my thoughts and plan what I'm going
to say.


Exactly.

And there is the wonderful backspace button.
There is not a backspace in real life.



LostInSpace
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08 May 2007, 6:49 pm

Definitely writing. I talk too fast, and my stories are always disorganized when I try to relate them orally. Plus, when I'm speaking I can't edit and I have other things competing for my attention, like facial expressions and trying to make eye contact.



tantopat
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08 May 2007, 7:10 pm

I definitely find it easier to type/write than speak. When I speak, I tend to talk very fast, to the point where very few people can understand me, and I stutter a lot and mess up words, but when I type I can communicate without problems. :) A perfect example of that was when I had to make a presentation in college. The written parts were fine, but I kept stumbling over what I said and could barely get any words out! :P



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08 May 2007, 10:58 pm

There’s no “speech” to me:

This is my voice; this is its only medium, and this voice that is me is the social hatchling that's Daniel who has just awoken.

I've got a lot to learn...if I can learn that is.



ChrissandraChrissamba
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08 May 2007, 11:41 pm

Writing.



Racer_J
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09 May 2007, 6:08 pm

Like almost everybody else has said, I communicate alot better through text than speech. I have to wait on customers at the place I work at, and it was really difficult for a while, but I'm used to it now...it's easy when you always repeat the same things over and over again. But I still have a hard time "bs'ing" with people, I stutter while searching my vocabulary and usually after I think about what I had said, I realize I had worded it wrong and the person probably didn't understand what I was trying to get across.



ghostgurl
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09 May 2007, 6:14 pm

I communicate better through writing. I write nothing like I talk. If the world was set up so that I communicate through writing rather than talking, I would probably get by much better.


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newaspie
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09 May 2007, 10:28 pm

Definately writing. I always feel the thought processes flow so easily from my brain through fingertips in a way that never works from brain to mouth..



LostInSpace
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09 May 2007, 10:41 pm

Racer_J wrote:
usually after I think about what I had said, I realize I had worded it wrong and the person probably didn't understand what I was trying to get across.


That happens to me all the time. I'll also realize I left out vital information, so that they would have had no idea of what I was talking about.
The worst was one time when I was at the eye doctor's, and I was idly listening to a conversation across the hall (not on purpose, I couldn't help it) where two people were talking about dogs. That made me think of something, so I suddenly said to my eye doctor, "Speaking of dogs, blah blah blah..." She gave me this startled look, but I didn't figure out why until later. She probably thought I was completely nuts- that the voices in my head had been talking about dogs or something. If I'd realized at the time, I could have clued her in to the conversation across the hall.