What manner of communications...? — Literally, What are these words that ye bandy to and fro with one another?
And are sad. — The adjective is the same as that used of the hypocrites in Matthew 6:16. The better MSS. make the question stop at “as ye walk,” and then add, “And they stood sad in countenance.” Over and above the authority for this reading, it has unquestionably the merit of greater dramatic vividness.