Phrases overheard, insults
remembered, lines borrowed from
popular culture, thoughts that
should probably have stayed inside
the head.

Language gets collected, distorted
and sent back out with a slightly
different attitude.

The archive keeps track of where it
came from. The rest is between the
words and whoever has to live with
them.

Five categories. No psychological
evaluation included.

CALLED / Things people have called
us. Some complimentary. Some not
fit for the minutes.

HEARD / Things picked up from the
outside world. No guarantee they
were heard correctly.

INVENTED / Words that didn’t exist
until somebody made the situation
worse.

MISREAD / Misheard, misspelled and
misunderstood. The original meaning
may have left the building.

INTERNAL / Private thoughts. Public
consequences, occasionally.