A challenging communication thing that happened to me, or, why I avoid speaking to people

[HighlyIrregular II]

All of us suck at this though, right? But you can reply anyway. I have a college educated friend who asked me what a detector is when I said I got a radon detector. Was I supposed to respond as if she meant "what's radon"? I don't know her super well. I tried to cover all bases but not sure if I was talking down to her in the beginning. Here's how it went down:

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I bought a radon detector since I'm on the first floor and get to use the basement. It's looking like I better not spend much time down there but I'm still testing. My apt is probably safe though.

Fri 5:54 PM
what's a detector?

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An instrument that finds something. So my radon detector tells me how much radon is in the air. One out of four days it found a dangerous amount, but that's OK. It's the long term that matters, and overall the level is safe so far.

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Radon is a radioactive gas that could cause lung cancer. It comes up from the ground, so basements and first floor apartments are at greatest risk. A lot of home owners test for radon. If found, you have to hire company to install special exhaust to clear the air, and you have to seal up stuff to prevent the radon from getting in.

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If I owned a home, I could pay like $1500 to fix it. Since I'm in an apartment, it's up to the landlord to fix it if there's radon, but I could do a couple of things. So far the apartment looks safe, but I have to test long term.

Fri 6:39 PM
darn i live on the first floor and never knew about this

[Senseye]

Not knowing what radon is could be acceptable (although it's pretty common knowledge by now). Not knowing what a detector is, if that was what she meant, would be rather head shaking.