by Jon Dainty Sr.

Created on: June 19, 2008   Last Updated: October 23, 2008

Social Literacy

Communication between people holds society together; misunderstood or insufficient communications damage us. Most people seem to fit reasonably well into groups because there is a type of understanding that goes beyond what is stated or written.

What if some part of the "tool belt" were missing, say, the ability to understand much of what is implicit in conversations? The smooth flow of agreement, renegotiation, and action in normal society would be inaccessible.

Why is this so important? Different people have ways of expressing common concepts that others may not understand without prior knowledge of or contact with the speaker. It helps to know something about the interests of persons contacted routinely, or at least to have spoken with that person and observed them in social settings.

What Do You Mean to Say?

If a person says to another, "There is a great movie showing at the Rialto Theater tonight," it may be a request for a date to see that movie. If a grandfather says this to his granddaughter, whose passions run to cinematic story-telling, she may correctly think that this is an offer to pay for the experience.

On the other hand, a recalcitrant teen whose parents have just grounded him may see this as the subtext of the argument: "So I will have to miss something I planned to do!"

Each of these between-the-lines meanings came from one innocent declaration. It was the context and the persons' own stories that gave deeper meaning to the words.

Understanding Despite the Speaker

Political speech is notorious for this shifting-sands character. If the president says at a news conference, "I have ordered the release of $20 million for this critical program," applause will be followed by puzzlement among some of the listeners. That is because, while the announcement seems completely positive, the president may earlier in the year have promised $45 million, giving the news a much more lukewarm welcome.

Reading between the lines is a crucial skill. When someone declares a thing to be so, in terms vague and nebulous, this skill may be all that allows understanding. In fact, even when speakers are very specific in their descriptions of proposed actions or complex concepts, this skill set is required in order to make proper decisions about the worth of what they said.

Know All You Can, Understand More

Those who lack this faculty often find themselves adrift because the nuances of language are numerous and complex. Whether someone is telling the truth or lying, find out more about them and know their true intent. Understanding any kind of communication requires social literacy and personal alertness to nonverbal cues. Reading between the lines makes life easier to navigate.

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