In few subjects it is as easy to talk past each other as when discussing consciousness. Not only is the subject elusive and everyone has their own opinion of what it is all about; different people also make quite different use of words and language when discussing consciousness. This contribution tries to exemplify some common misunderstanding between people with different starting points and different use of language. The suggestion is that 'the problem of consciousness' is after all quite similar to all of us, although this is muddled by the way we talk about it, and the way we have locked ourselves into our different slogans and world views.