How many times have you encountered something like this in a conversation,
"Aah, I thought you meant <A> and not <B> when you said it. Now I get it."

Or even better, when is the last time you conveyed something to a person, and was convinced that he or she understood and interpreted it exactly the way you wanted it? If I was asked this question six months back, I would've answered - "Well. So many times. Let me give you an example." Just that the wait would be indefinite if I were to take that question seriously. That moment when you realise you are really not sure if the other person got your message right, as intended. It makes you wonder - is there a way to effectively transfer information and intent in a human conversation?

Karl Popper, a philosopher whose works have contributed immensely in the field of epistemology, said, "Always remember that it is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood: there will always be some who misunderstand you."

A stricter interpretation of Popper's idea that I would like to go by is that you will always be misunderstood by the listener. It's a perspective I learnt from an episode of TokCast, a podcast dedicated to discussing epistemology, covering the works of Karl Popper, David Deutsch et al. This strict interpretation is possible when you define "being understood" as when your message is perceived by the receiver exactly the way you wanted it to be without any loss of context, information and even feelings. Yes, feelings! How do you get the receiver to interpret the message with 20% excitement, 65% exasperation and 15% confidence, the way you wanted it?

Communication is just hard. Acknowledging would probably help us get better at it.