“I think we’re still in a muddle with our language, because once you get words and a spoken language it gets harder to communicate” (Ewalt, 2005, para. 1). The famous primatologist Jane Goodall made this point when explaining why chimpanzees get over their disputes much faster than humans. They strike out at each other and then offer each other reassuring pats or embraces, and voilà, argument over. Not so with people: words can be really hard to forget.
As you’ve probably experienced, words can lead to confusion, hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and anger when we blurt things out before considering them (and their effects) carefully (Miller & Roloff, 2007). We sometimes engage in hurtful or hateful language, use labels in ways that others don’t appreciate, reveal bias through our words, and use offensive or coarse language. And when we put thoughtless or hastily chosen words in e-