When is it OK to be “Verbal?”

For all you people new to my blog: Welcome! To everyone else: Welcome!

I don’t discriminate. But I digress.

Here are some simple definitions related to communications.

We humans are special in that we can communicate orally, verbally and in writing. Which is which?

First, the easy ones. Oral refers to spoken words (I’m not dealing with mouthy definitions here). Written refers to words on paper or computer screen.

That leaves verbal. I’m not referring to any definition related to the part of speech. I’m all about communication.

Contrary to popular belief, verbal is not a synonym for oral. Verbal means “of, relating to, or consisting of words.”

Look at that definition: words. Not written words.  Not spoken words, although a verbal contract is spoken. Just words.

While oral refers to spoken words, verbal could refer to either spoken or written. To verbalize is “to speak or write verbosely.” Again, look at the definition.

Use verbal when comparing words with some other form of communication: His tears revealed the sentiments that his poor verbal skills could not express.

Make sense? If not, change verbal to communication and you have a perfectly good sentence with a similar meaning.

Until next time! Use the right words!

leebarnathan.com