Communication misunderstanding is the norm, not a marginal defect.

Evidence

The semiological influence leads to the emphasis on the key role of the (largely unconscious) linguistic, visual, and cultural codes that underlie the communications process. In a fundamentally transformative reversal, this emphasis shifts the question of misunderstanding from being a marginal kink in a communications process otherwise presumed to be smooth to a central place in the analysis—where differential understandings of any message are seen as the norm. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 759 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

In what measure sociability realizes to the full the abstraction of the forms of sociological interaction otherwise significant because of their content and gives them—now turning about themselves, so to speak—a shadow body is revealed finally in that most extensive instrument of all human common life, conversation. The decisive point is expressed in the quite banal experience that in the serious affairs of life men talk for the sake of the content which they wish to impart or about which they want to come to an understanding—in sociability talking is an end in itself; in purely sociable conversation the content is merely the indispensable carrier of the stimulation, which the lively exchange of talk as such unfolds. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 381 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Misunderstanding is the norm rather than an anomaly in communication — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 759; Apparent audience ‘misunderstanding’ often signals departure from dominant preferred codes.; In sociable conversation talk becomes an end in itself, not a vehicle for content — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 381

Related

• Misunderstanding is the norm rather than an anomaly in communication (similarity 0.89)
• People answer what they think you mean, not what you say (similarity 0.87)
• Messages are polysemic, so decoding never guarantees preferred intended meaning. (similarity 0.86)
• Apparent audience ‘misunderstanding’ often signals departure from dominant preferred codes. (similarity 0.85)
• Misunderstanding, not clarity, is the norm in media communication (similarity 0.84)
• Communication succeeds only through shared contextual beliefs that cannot be fully formalized (similarity 0.82)
• All communication is necessarily a partial selection from inner reality (similarity 0.80)
• In sociable conversation talk becomes an end in itself, not a vehicle for content (similarity 0.79)
• Misunderstanding in communication arises from code asymmetry, not mere distortion. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Misunderstanding is the norm rather than an anomaly in communication #corroborates (0.95) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 759
• In sociable conversation talk becomes an end in itself, not a vehicle for content #expands (0.78) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 381
• Apparent audience ‘misunderstanding’ often signals departure from dominant preferred codes. #qualifies (0.50)