Keep The Possible Double Meaning of Words In Mind

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney recently found out how dangerous it can be to change your wording when revising your presentation. Word should be chosen with a great deal of care.

According to reporter Kevin Carmichael, in the March 25, 2010 issue of The Globe and Mail the change of one word in Carney's latest report on inflation and interest rates has caused business leaders to panic.

Apparently in an earlier promise on interest rates Carney said that any change in the rate would be conditional on the outlook for prices. Then in an apparent effort to freshen up his copy he modified his copy by adding one word in front of conditional: "expressly" So now he said: that his pledge not to change the rate was, "expressly conditional on the outlook for inflation."

Alarmed business leaders took this as a subtle warning that they should expect an increase in the interest rate on business loans before the end of June 2010 – despite the fact that Carney insists he did not mean that.

He apparently didn't stop to think how his choice of words could suggest the likelihood of an imminent change in loan interest rates. Carney insists that was not his intention, that he was only trying to freshen up his wording but that is how the addition of that one word to his copy was interpreted.

The lesson here is that this type of thing could happen to you if not are not careful. You have to keep in mind what effect your wording could have on your audience.

Jeff Mock in his book You Can Write Poetry makes this point clear. Mock warns poets that they have to keep in mind that words have both a literal meaning and often a suggested meaning (known as detonation and connotation) and that it is the connotation that can cause problems if you are not careful

Examples of this he gives include the difference in the suggested meaning in the words "satisfied" and "pleased" when used to describe how you have enjoyed a meal.

As Mock says both words have the same general meaning of contentment, but that the word "satisfied" is a more neutral word. The connotation creates the impression that the speaker feels that meal was just satisfactory -- nothing more.


The word "pleased" on the other hand creates an impression of being delighted with the meal. Naturally which word you used could evoke quite different responses from your audience – especially, as Mock says, if the cook you were speaking to happened to be your spouse.

Mock is writing about composing poems but the same principle holds true for any type of presentations whether it is a poem, feature story, speech, or any type of oral presentation. The thing to remember  is that when choosing words you need to keep both the detonation or literal meaning of words as well as their connotation or suggested meanings in mind. And stay aware of how these meanings can affect your audience – whether it is one person or a hundred.