-SIGINT-

Sometimes we hear more than we should. I've just read two books on signals intelligence, and seen the movie "The Conversation" with Gene Hackman, so I'm well aware that a body can misinterpret the meaning behind the simplest phrases. Watching lessons one and two of 'French in Action,' a film series featuring the Capretz method (total immersion, no translation) accurately conveys two major concepts; first, 80s styles are every bit as repellent in France as they were here, and second, each language reaches for its own ideas, not universal ones.

But linguistic trees shouldn't end with English, French, Cree, Togo, Phoenician. There is, for example, the peculiar tongue within English spoken only by corporate suck ups. Many thanks to Don Watson, author of 'Death Sentences' for bravely exploring the writings of those strange people. I have come to know them well; a small tribe has taken up residence in this area, even though the resources they usually require to thrive (i.e. actual authority and money) is sorely lacking. Truly, a resilient species.

And sometimes, we understand all too well.

I was in a good mood Friday. WE were in a good mood. Librarians, tutors, students. You could feel the Friday energy.

Then the library director's companion came in with a dishwater gray aura. "I talked with the Doctor..." He began.

I shouldn't be hearing this. I thought. I'll be going.

Too late; I heard two letters:

M

S