5. Incompatible Communication Codes. When others speak a different language than we do, it is easy to see that we have incompatible communication codes. But even when people speak the same language, cultural variations can result from belonging to different co-cultures.

For example, people from Great Britain take a “lift”

to reach a higher floor and eat “chips” with their fish.

Americans ride an “elevator” and eat “french fries” with their burgers. Within the United States, many Midwesterners drink “pop” rather than “soda.” Co-cultural groups will often purposefully develop “in-group” codes that are easily understood by co-culture members but are unintelligible to those from the outside. Just try having a conversation about a computer problem with your friend, Sam, who is a “tech geek.” If you are not a “tech geek” yourself, Sam’s vocabulary is likely to be as foreign to you as if he were speaking Icelandic.