Excerpted from Parade Magazine, authored by Marilin von Savant:

“Educators define four categories of vocabulary. Our reading vocabulary is the largest by far, followed by our listening vocabulary. Then comes our speaking vocabulary, which is much smaller, and finally our writing vocabulary, which is smaller still.”

For example: “To read, one need only recognize the word and comprehend its meaning in context. To speak, one must recall the particular word without prompting and insert it instantly into the appropriate context. That’s much more difficult.”

So we read posts with our largest vocabulary, but write posts with our smallest.

Now I know why I often respond with few sentence and short sentences. And post in my own version of a conversational style. And even then revise before I post.

And, why it's an easy temptation to “read between the lines”, or to read into a post more than is there.
There may be more, or less, than intended. But only the author can know what it is.

Just to say (to use an idiom) that we should “cut each other some slack” and perhaps delay or forgo a reply if we’ve read ourselves into a temper.


Sideways to the topic: “Whisky-speak” begins with a wonderful and witty (at least to the speaker) energetic outpouring and excess of vocabulary. And eventually sinks into sentences of few and short words. Including perhaps rude words. Exclamations. Or to a semi-private vocabulary that only the slurry speaker understands. Been there, done that.