Thursday, February 4, 2010
vague vs. ambiguous
The terms vague and ambiguous are often confusing to people. I used to be extremely frustrated with these two words because they're so similar, yet different at the same time. A vague statement is more like a word or phrase that has an uncertain meaning to it--something that is not defined or clearly expressed. An ambiguous statement, on the other hand, is something that can have two or more meanings to it. It would be a statement where a part of it is possible to be interpreted in more than one way. For example, on Monday I was looking for a pair of ballet flats. I asked my friend for his opinion on what he thinks. He said that he liked the pair of shoes I wore on Sunday and told me to buy a similar one with a flower on it. I was confused because I don't own a pair of shoes with flowers on them. So I asked him, "You mean bow?" because that particular pair of shoes had bows on them. And then he got confused and said, "No..flower." We went on for another minute and he ended up asking, "Aren't bows like a bow and arrow?" And I started laughing and I remembered that his English is not perfect because he's only been in the states for a few years. When he said flower, he actually meant bow, but he said flower instead because he didn't know the proper word for bow. So the statement that he said would be considered ambiguous because I interpreted it differently than what he meant to say.
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It's funny how little things like that sometimes end up getting lost in translation between non-native English speakers. Although in your shoe situation, it also sounds like a case of something being lost in the translation between sexes, as most guys’ shoes have neither bows nor flowers. I know that I definitely tend to find myself in this situation quite often with my girlfriend. I wonder how often-important details end up getting lost in translation in cases like these; it kind of makes you wonder? Either way it was really good example of ambiguous statements.
ReplyDeleteI like your story, pinkash, but it is not an example of ambiguity.
ReplyDeleteYour friend made a plain statement (that he liked your shoes). In fact, he was being very specific when he said 'the ones with the bow', he just got the word wrong because of his limited English vocabulary. It certainly wasn't misinterpretation on your part; again, he used the wrong word.
Ironically, your question, "You mean bow?" was ambiguous as the word 'bow' can have several meanings (although we usually rely on context to resolve such minor ambiguities).
@FedEx: You're right and wrong. I think you hit the nail on the head describing this as a 'lost in translation' thing. In the story, the compliment certainly was! :-)
But I don't agree that sex is relevant in this case; men and women equally know the difference between a flower and a bow. And to say that it was a "good example of ambiguous statements" just contradicts your previous observation of it being a case of 'lost in translation'. [Lexical] ambiguity can only exist within the confines of one language.