There is also the
difficulty of correctly understanding what people mean when they use
language to express a want. It is not at all uncommon to hear a
customer say, “That’s not what I wanted.” And when you and your
customer go back to the requirement's list you come to understand that
what he thought he said is not what you thought he said. You can read
the same thing and find a different meaning. This is language. Even
the most skilled individuals cannot entirely eliminate this source of
misunderstanding.
The fuzzy language problem will occur
even with the best of writers, speakers, readers, and listeners. Most
people are not really very good at language. This includes many who
believe they are. This, of course, compounds the problem.
You may very well believe that you can
be, or at least some people can be, very precise with language. I will
discuss this in the theory section on Mimetics. But, doing that now
would be a very extensive side trip. So, if you do not already believe
that language is by its very nature a fuzzy way of expressing things, I
ask that you accept the position that, "if it were fuzzy then that would
be another source of wants misunderstanding."
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(C) 2005-2014 Wayne M. Angel.
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