Random Monday: Tones

I've always been intrigued by how the subtlest differences in tone can work. Sometimes they can sound similar and sometimes unearthly different. 

I won't lie - my parents bicker a lot. I tend to leave the room whenever they do. In my upstairs room, I can hear the fluctuating tones of their voices downstairs. I groan to myself every time I realize they're arguing.

Imagine my surprise one night when I ventured downstairs to get a drink, thinking they were in a fight, and instead found them snickering together. Somehow the stress in their voices matched, to a degree, some of the joking tones they used. 

On the other hand, in my workplace, I've been having a very hard time with my manager. In a sentence, I feel as though I'm inconveniencing her every time I ask a question. Even her texts to me give off the air of, "Leave me alone, I don't have time for this." 

Just the slightest shift in volume of a voice can mean the world. One night when I was speaking to her, I asked a question, and her voice dropped - almost un-noticeably - but enough that I felt as though I couldn't ask any other questions for the rest of the evening.

This is actually a great tool to utilize in writing. Simply making a character use a different word than they would usually use, or use a shorter sentence than they might normally say, can speak a lot for what the character is actually feeling.

Just a random musing I've had lately. What sort of experiences have you had when it comes to people's tone of voice?

Have a happy Monday, everyone!