What does this text mean?

A short message carries less than it seems to. There’s no face, no voice and no pause, so you fill in the tone yourself, and when you’re worried, it’s easy to fill in the worst one. The same “ok” can be fine, hurt, annoyed or just busy. Mixed Signals, our daily game, shows how differently people read the very same text.

A few that often get read the worst way, what else they could mean, and a question that lets the other person say.

It won’t tell you what they meant. Nobody can from the words alone. It gives you a few honest ways to read it, including generous ones, and a warm question you could ask instead of guessing. It never gives their message a verdict, since that would be judging them. You know the person; it knows how words can read.

If it stung, give yourself a few minutes. You don’t have to answer at the speed it arrived. Once you know what to say, switch the box to “I’m sending it” and check your answer too.