The communication ability of a grasshopper

I've started studying for my masters this week and a passage I read struck me as funny and sad at the same time.

From Jean Aitchson's book "Teach Yourself Linguistics" (2003):

"Most animals have a very limited number of messages they can send or receive.  The male of a certain species of grasshopper, for example, has a choice of six, which might be translated as follows:

1. I am happy, life is good.
2. I would like to make love.
3. You are trespassing on my territory.
4. She's mine.
5. Let's make love.
6. Oh how nice to have made love."

It's funny to me because I had no idea how laid back and amorous grasshoppers could be.

It's sad because, adding in maybe 2 or 3 other messages (which might be 1. I'm so full, I ate too much, 2. you are a terrible teacher, 3. I'm smarter than you), it sums up the extent of my communication with a man I spent 3 years of my life with.

Being out of the relationship, now I can look back and realize how wrong we were for each other.  For me communication is key.  It doesn't have to be deep or philosophical all the time but I think that my body and mind needs it to survive.  To feel good, to be healthy, both mentally and physically.  I want to hear about the funny thing that happened to you at work or school or while you were riding the subway.  I get pleasure out of telling and hearing anecdotes.  I like to share.

But it's not enough to just share.  It's also important that you feel an energy while you are sharing with another person.  The kind of energy that never seems to wane.  For example, I met my best friend at university.  We had a couple of short conversations in the beginning mostly having to do with the Undergrad Psych Student's Association of which I was president and he was the email guy.  Then I didn't see him again until the following school year.  When we ran into each other again we talked for something like 6 hours.  It started off in the office and then we had to move it to a restaurant because we were hungry and it was dinner time.  And even when we parted the conversation never diminished, we held it over for another time.

Unfortunately I don't often meet people where I have this conversational energy.  Actually, I think I've only met about four in my lifetime.

everything can be misconstrued.

Do you ever have fantasies?  Daydreams where you think about decisions you need to make for the immediate future?  About future conversations you may have with friends or potential friends and you're trying to figure out how they'll take it?

It's easy when you've known a person for a long time, say 10 years.  You can joke and be pretty offensive toward that person and even over email he understands that you're just teasing him and you'd never do anything to jeopardize the respect that you have for each other.  When it comes to getting to know new people, even 10 minute exchanges in person can be devastating to any kind of positive future rapport.

Do you ever think about future conversations where you might want to explain something about your past where you feel you should have been smarter and any normal person would have left or chosen option B had he known the pain that was coming?  Everything you say can be misconstrued.