The mother and child
The mother and child
A mother is 21 years older than her child.
In exactly 6 years from now, the mother will be exactly 5 times as old as the child.
Where is the father?
Six eggs in a basket
Six eggs in a basket
There are six eggs in a basket.
You take an egg out of the basket and ask 5 other people to each take an egg.
The five other people each take one of the eggs.
How can it be true that one egg is left in the basket?
For a clue – write what you think or a question in the comments below ↓
The man on the top floor
The man on the top floor
A man lives in an apartment on the top floor of a building, on the 20th floor.
Every morning he takes the elevator down to the ground floor and leaves the building to go to work.
Upon his return from work he takes the lift to the 6th floor and has to walk the rest of the way up a staircase to where he lives on the 20th floor.
However, when it rains, he takes the lift right up to the 20th floor.
How can this be true?
At the bus stop
You are driving down the road in your car on a wild, stormy night, snow is coming down and the temperature is freezing, when you pass by a bus stop and you see three people waiting for the bus:
1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
2. An old friend who once saved your life.
3. The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.
Knowing that there can only be one passenger in your car, whom would you choose?
Language as a window into human nature
Language as a window into human nature
Language and meaning are a fascinating subject – as illustrated in the video below, which shows the way, in which, speakers attempt to put meaning into words – sometimes producing the desired effect and sometimes it failing miserably.
One of the most widespread misconceptions regarding communication is that we can transfer meaning, as a speaker, directly into the minds of the listener – much as a direct form of implantation – this is just not true, even if some sort of meaning is decoded.
Anyone who has tried to talk about a great film that they have seen, or attempted to retell a particularly funny joke, will know just how untrue this notion is.
Although the listener ends up with virtually the same knowledge as the speaker has on the subject, there is little control on the qualitative results of the communication – the speaker attempts to inject meaning into their words, but it is then left to the listener to take out and set the meaning into their own set of knowledge, experience and emotions.
Arguably, this illustrates the point that words cannot convey meaning – they can only carry a set of instructions from speaker to listener of how meaning is meant to be construed (from the point of view of the speaker).
Another illustration of this point is the way that written words can often cause problems in communication – see our post on written communication pitfalls.
Think about any book that you have read and enjoyed, only to be largely disappointed when you have seen the film – it is very rare that a film exceeds the book.
This is also true for the times when we have attempted to carefully craft a message – only for it to be misunderstood by the receivers – have a look at the video which deals with these difficulties in a humourous way…
In this RSAnimate, Language as a window into human nature, Steven Pinker shows us how the mind turns the finite building blocks of language into infinite meanings.
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-son3EJTrU[/embedyt]