When I was in middle school my father was forever asking me questions whenever I made a statement. I finally came to realize he was trying to make me think through my ideas and be more specific. Opinions are important but are not worth much if you can't express them. Of course at that age, I thought he was just trying to drive me crazy!
After a few months I think he realized he wasn't getting through and brought home this poster: I know you believe you understand what you think I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant! He proceeded to hang it on the wall across from my bed...I saw it every morning when I woke and every night before I went to sleep. One day, it finally made sense! Perhaps this is what helped me develop a love of words, you need plenty of them in order to make yourself understood. Think about this whenever you're having trouble communicating with someone else...have you thought through the idea, are you using the right words? And no, you don't have to memorize the poster...this is not a test.
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