Good dialogue cuts to the chase; it's not as drawn out as real speech; it gets the point across quickly unless there's a narrative reason for it not to.
Tarantino may be an exception to this rule - he does small-talk so well.
To answer you question, I think how well people interpret others depends very much on how willing they are to trust their "gut feelings", which I define as the instinctive interpretation of signs needed for any individual or species to survive. If you think too much, you can often convince yourself that your gut-feeling is wrong, when it isn't. So I think, for some people it's wishful thinking, and for some it actually is possible to interpret body language quite well.
"text - the most nonimmediate, impersonal kind of communication we have."
I don't think text is really like this - because we interpret the word and make the pictures in our brain, even though we may not receive exactly what the author intended, I think whatever we reconstruct can be a more immediate experience than watching a play or TV.
no subject
Tarantino may be an exception to this rule - he does small-talk so well.
To answer you question, I think how well people interpret others depends very much on how willing they are to trust their "gut feelings", which I define as the instinctive interpretation of signs needed for any individual or species to survive. If you think too much, you can often convince yourself that your gut-feeling is wrong, when it isn't. So I think, for some people it's wishful thinking, and for some it actually is possible to interpret body language quite well.
"text - the most nonimmediate, impersonal kind of communication we have."
I don't think text is really like this - because we interpret the word and make the pictures in our brain, even though we may not receive exactly what the author intended, I think whatever we reconstruct can be a more immediate experience than watching a play or TV.