When two pedestrians collide, there’s none of that anger we
see when motorists cross one another’s path. The experts say that we don’t see
aggression when people collide because they’re liable to exchange little signs of
apology, which you are unable to do when you’re trapped inside a car.
The same kind of misunderstandings can easily happen on
e-mail. The style of e-mail is terse but informal, so people get annoyed where
no rudeness is intended, because they can’t see the expression on the face of
the person they’re communicating with. If they could, the problem would
instantly disappear.
