Inflection

I realize when I chat in gmail or Facebook I make a great deal of effort to show inflection so as to improve communication. But I think, after a moment of introspection, it's more than that for me. I am something of a musical speaker, and I just wouldn't get the Dorian-ness across by saying, "I don't understand," or even "I don't understand!." It has to be, "I don't underSTAND!!" because in person, I would place heavy emphasis on the last syllable of that word in order to emit the exaggerated sentiment of frustration. But, the exaggerated sentiment is sort of a joke, and most likely a joke that very, very few people get. To explain: I'm not really that frustrated over something like my gmail not functioning properly for a few hours in the day. Seriously, life is too short to get that upset about it.
Anyway, in this texting-messaging world, I think learning how to convey inflection is an important skill. Part of the reason--the main reason--I hate texting conversations is that there is too much room for interpretation. We have to power to affect perception! Let's not give this up because of laziness. Let's be clear.