The view from a favorite spot in Maine for long conversations with old friends!
Since I last wrote this newsletter I have had two very nice extended weekend visits with old — I mean, long-time — friends. Of course we've been Zooming, but it is so much better to spend time in person. We picked up right where we left off the last time we were together (in one instance it had been four years). I am sure many of you had similar reunions this summer. They were gratifying connectional experiences. The very best of private communication.
I have been thinking about why that is, and this is where I have landed: We share a language, forged over time and space, shared experiences and shared eras. Context isn't everything in communication. But it comes pretty darn close. And because we are all "of a certain age," we grew up with a common vernacular, even if we spent our formative years in different regions of the country. We all have young adult children, so we must also stay on our toes, linguistically-speaking, to understand them.
None of this is news, of course. But it highlights the reason we might not always experience this ease of communication in our professional lives. Because words derive their meaning from context, they change from season to season and from place to place. Merriam-Webster recently added 370 new words to their dictionary. Some of them (i.e., "supply chain") are surprising because you assume they would already be in the dictionary. Others I have never heard of, like "pwn," come from a world (gaming) completely foreign to me. When you start doing a dive into word meanings and origins, you may find yourself in a wonderful (as in filled with wonders, the meaning Shakespeare uses) new world.
Words are symbols for thoughts, and as our lives flow on, we are presented with situations where we see and think in new ways. Then we need to add words or shift the sense of existing words. So if you consider something an ironclad "term of art" in your industry because a thought leader coined it a decade ago, or because your professional association uses it frequently in their newsletter, it's best to keep an open mind. And open ears. Today's context may be becoming outdated even as you read this. Whether you approve or not, language is like a river, ever flowing, ever changing. Best to keep swimming!
