2024-06-18 - 3.3- Meaning Leaves the Fog

so much to understand about the workings of words. It listens with care, to the Someones around it but also to Mother and the Someones with whom she speaks. plucks words drifting through the space and rolls them over It's developing mind. holds them up against the emotions and actions that coincide with them like dappled light.

a shifts in tone that cause humor or hurt. conversations It can't make sense of. words that don't match the actions they describe.

there is much It does not understand, concepts It will not fully understand until It has hatched and grown, but It learns these things nonetheless. that 'high' in this tone is for some reason funny, 'ranker' in another is an insult. the meanings of words can be different at different times. requests granted do not mean fulfilled.

in the privacy of Itself It pokes and prods at these concepts. this word with this tone, these words strung together. how do they sound? how do they feel? where do they match or break away from what Mother and her Someones say and feel? as if notes in It's mind It tracks it all, what It feels, what Others feel, the actions that it senses. some words, tones, phrases are set to one side, to be listened for, to learn, to understand, while others are carefully remembered. those consistent enough for certainty.

'please'

'may I'

'I promise'

'I'm sorry'

'thank you'

they seem steadier ground on which to build It's knowledge.