In June I wrote a column about two words, misconception and misperception. As often happens, I received more responses to that column than to many others that I considered more important and better written. In fact, the responses inspired me to write a follow-up column to reveal the responses because they were so clever.
First, I received a short email that only contained four
words in response to the column:
"Maybe it's a misinterpretation." I like that one for its brevity and wit.
Next I got a link to another blog that covered the exact
same two words, only this one was written over two years before mine. I swear on a stack of Bibles that I never
saw that other column until that day.
Here is what that email response concluded:
Cogitate on this-----perhaps this link relevant to today's lesson in lexicography will shed
some light.
A misconception can be the logical conclusion to a
mis-perception (not a word in my mind). Or--a missed way of 'conceiving (mental
process) can be the result of and incorrect perception (something originating
with the senses).
However, a mis-perception may or may not follow a
misconception. One may be
correct in their assumption, but then again, they may not be correct.
correct in their assumption, but then again, they may not be correct.
Now that one was a little deeper, and I think you would like
to click on the link to read how similar those two columns were.
Finally, one of my readers sent this response to my column:
A misconception can also result from a birth control
device or poor timing or whatever. Perhaps our AHC debacle is a
misconception.
Misperception.... well, perhaps I simply don't understand AHC. Or is it like the blind men and the elephant??
Misperception.... well, perhaps I simply don't understand AHC. Or is it like the blind men and the elephant??
This last one got politics into the mix, but the last
question is relevant, because it introduced me to that Indian parable, one I
had never read or heard before. In case you have also never read it, here it
is:
They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, "Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway." All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them touched the elephant.
"Oh, no! it is like a rope," said the second man who touched the tail.
"Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree," said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant.
"It is like a big hand fan" said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant.
"It is like a huge wall," said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant.
"It is like a solid pipe," Said the sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant.
They began to argue about the elephant and everyone of them insisted that he was right. It looked like they were getting agitated. A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He stopped and asked them, "What is the matter?" They said, "We cannot agree to what the elephant is like." Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like. The wise man calmly explained to them, "All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently because each one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So, actually the elephant has all those features what you all said."
"Oh!" everyone said. There was no more fight. They felt happy that they were all right.
The moral of the story is that there may be some truth to what someone says. Sometimes we can see that truth and sometimes not because they may have different perspective which we may not agree to. So, rather than arguing like the blind men, we should say, "Maybe you have your reasons." This way we don’t get into arguments.
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What more can I add? We all perceive things differently, but just because we cannot agree on everything , it doesn't mean that anyone's perception is more correct than any other person's. So misconception and misperception are both wrongly used. Both the conception and the perception are relative terms, and neither can truly be "missed."
