Using the Right Language

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I attended a course on communications.  Since the course content is trade-marked, I wont be naming the course title here.

One of the topics was knowing who our audience is, and saying the right things to them in order to obtain the expected results.  To cut the long story short, I am summarising using the story below.


The Story

A cruise ship was sailing in the North Seas, hit an ice berg, and was sinking.
There were not enough life jackets on the ship.

The captain wanted only the women and children to have the life jackets.
So he needed to speak to all the guys on the boat to persuade them to jump into the water without the life jacket.

He first came up to a group of British guys, and said: "Gentlemen, it is an honour to give up the life jackets to the women and the children."  Without hesitation, the British guys yelled: "For the honour!", and all jumped into the water without the life jackets.

The captain next found a group of Americans, and said: "Guys, you will be a hero if you let the women and children have the life jackets."  Very quickly, the Americans jumped into the water, shouting: "We are heroes!!!"

At another corner of the ship, the captain came up to a group of Germans, and said: "Gentlemen, you need to jump into the water without the life jackets.  This is an order!"
The Germans saluted the captain, shouting: "Ja!", and jumped into the water.

The captain then saw a group of Japanese men, so he said: "Konichiwa Minasan! By consensus, you are required to jump into the water without the life jackets."
The Japanese all replied in unison: "Hai, so desu ne!"  So all the Japanese guys jumped without further delay.

Near the stern of the ship, the captain saw this group of guys chit chatting and joking loudly, and recognised them as Singaporeans.  He went to lean against the railing, and shouted: "Hey, free life jacket for anyone who jumps!"  Before you know it, all the Singapore guys jumped over the railing shouting:"Chiong ah !!!! Free gifts !!!!!"

And right behind the Singaporeans, a bunch of Malaysian guys followed and jumped over the railing too, shouting: "Malaysia Boleh!!!"

Note: The above story/joke is meant to illustrate a point.  There is no intention in offending anyone.  Please accept my apologies if I did.

Moral of the story, do not always assume all customers (or people in general) think the same.  Sometimes in a cab, the driver insisted that I tell them which way to use, despite me repeatedly saying "I let you decide".  One cab driver complained to me that he has to ask this way, because if he didn't use the route that the passenger wants, he would get a scolding.  I replied: "Not everyone is the same.  I won't scold you."

Thank you KM, for allowing me to use this picture.

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