Life is a near-death experience.
George CarlinRead
The worst thing about e-mail is that you can’t interrupt the other person. You have to read the whole thing and then e-mail them back, pointing out all their mistakes and faulty assumptions. It’s frustrating and it’s time-consuming. God bless phone calls.
Interpretation
E-mail communication can lead to misunderstandings and prolonged discussions, while phone calls offer a more direct and efficient interaction.
George Carlin humorously critiques the limitations of email as a communication tool, suggesting that it can be tedious and frustrating due to the lack of real-time interaction. Unlike phone calls, where misunderstandings can be quickly addressed, emails require a back-and-forth exchange that can delay resolution and exacerbate confusion, highlighting the advantages of more immediate forms of communication.
In practice
In a presentation about workplace communication, this quote can emphasize the need for direct interaction.
Life is a near-death experience.
Here’s a bumper sticker I’d like to see: “We are the proud parents of a child who’s self-esteem is sufficient that he doesn’t need us promoting his minor scholastic achievements on the back of our car."
If you've got a cat and a leg, you've got a happy cat. If you've got a cat and two legs, you've got a party.
This is a lttle prayer dedicated to the separation of church and state. I guess if they are going to force those kids to pray in schools they might as well have a nice prayer like this: Our Father who art in heaven, and to the republic for which it stands, thy kingdom come, one nation indivisible as in heaven, give us this day as we forgive those who so proudly we hail. Crown thy good into temptation but deliver us from the twilight's last gleaming. Amen and Awomen.
Some people try to get out of jury duty by lying. You don't have to lie. Tell the judge the truth. Tell him you'd make a terrific juror because you can spot guilty people.
Intelligence tests are biased toward the literate.
Talking with a Martian is like talking with an echo. You don't get argument but you don't get results.
Communication starts with the understanding that there is my point of view (my truth) and someone else's point of view (his truth). Rarely is there one absolute truth, so people who believe that they speak the truth are very silencing of others.
To the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.
Despite all the technical improvements, it still boils down to a man or a woman and a microphone, playing music, sharing stories, talking about issues -- communicating with an audience.
If I do three interviews in a day, I can be exhausted, because the process of hearing everyone requires that I empty out myself. While I'm listening, my own judgments and prejudices certainly come up. But I know I won't get anything unless I get those things out of the way.
It is not so much the content of what one says as the way in which one says it. However important the thing you say, what's the good of it if not heard or, being heard, not felt?
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.