All communication is more or less cross-cultural. We learn to use language as we grow up, and growing up in different parts of the country, having different ethnic, religious, or class backgrounds, even just being male or female - all result in different ways of talking.

The allure of love is to have someone who knows you so well that you don't have to explain yourself. It is the promise of someone who cares enough about you to protect you against the world of strangers who do not wish you well.

We all know we are unique individuals, but we tend to see others as representatives of groups.

False dichotomies are often at the heart of discord.

The argument culture urges us to approach the world-and the people in it-in an adversarial frame of mind. It rests on the assumption that opposition is the best way to get anything done: Conflict and opposition are as necessary as cooperation and agreement, but the scale is off balance, with conflict and opposition over-weighted.

For most women, the language of conversation is primarily a language of rapport: a way of establishing connections and negotiating relationships.

In dialogue, there is opposition, yes, but no head-on collision. Smashing heads does not open minds.