I’ve started to notice how people may respond to the written language
and also that spoke to them. Firstly looking at how we may read of misread
signs, I have noticed how people only glance or skim read notices when they are
on the go. For example a sign in a shop may clearly state buy one get one half
price, however during my weekend job in a newsagents I noticed that customers
in a rush saw the buy one part of the sign and instantly finished this off as
get one free. This then resulting in a mixture of embarrassment or anger of
being wrongly sold something. I’ve also observed this misreading personally,
for example the other day I went to pull the ticket from the machine on the bus
as I always do like everyone else. I didn’t realise the massive sign stuck to
the machine saying do not pull the ticket until it was too late. At this point
I had only noticed the huge DO NOT, which I instantly related to the ticket
situation as the ticket didn’t tear as normal. This was then met with an angry
“Do not pull the ticket, tear it off” from the driver. I instantly responded to
the verbal instruction over the written one and I wasn’t the only one to do so.
What I noticed here was how we don’t always instantly react to a hand written
sign, either we have less value or the pen on white paper doesn’t capture our
attention as much as say a huge red stop sign does on the road. But then again
we look out for signs like these as they appear everyday. Hand written signs
are more of a response to a change in the everyday. And if we are going through
life as normal we don’t expect the change or look out for it. Where as a verbal
command or instruction is more likely to capture our attention, maybe because
we listen out for what people might say to us or we are more likely to respond to
sound.
Another example is the way we say something can outweighs the content
of what we are actually saying. For example while watching gogglebox I noticed
how the viewers were laughing at Ed Miliband during a elections debate because
of the slight lisp and shake in the way he talks. He may have had good policies
and been saying the most relevant things that would benefit the viewers however
their responses to him were negative in comparison to David Cameron whose well
spoken voice made for what seemed a much more trust worthy speech just for the
way he spoke rather than what he was actually saying.
Another observation is this internal voice we have when we read, it is
your own personal voice and internal dialogue for when you read. I’ve always
wondered how other people’s internal voices may sound, is it their own voice or
an interpretation of how they think their own voice may sound. Or is it
something completely different? Personally I’ve never paid much attention to
how this voice sounds until it was pointed out to me. I feel mine is more an
interpretation of how I think my actual voice sounds.
