As I always have to cite this when communication miserably fails, I might as well put it on my blog. Be sure to read the commentary from Korpela.
Four Principles of Interpersonal Communication
Osmo Wiio gives us some communication maxims similar to Murphy’s law (Osmo Wiio, Wiio’s Laws–and Some Others (Espoo, Finland: Welin-Goos, 1978):* If communication can fail, it will.
* If a message can be understood in different ways, it will be understood in just that way which does the most harm.
* There is always somebody who knows better than you what you meant by your message.
* The more communication there is, the more difficult it is for communication to succeed.These tongue-in-cheek maxims are not real principles; they simply humorously remind us of the difficulty of accurate communication. (See also A commentary of Wiio’s laws by Jukka Korpela.)
