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The First - a 100 word story\n\n\n\nShe was the first letter in the alphabet and she knew it. A quick look from her was enough to melt most of the alphabet away. People became muted as she walked by, viciously robbed of their speech. She had the upper hand in debate, leaving every other letter far behind. She was a countenance, a word, and a world on her own. She stood on a strong foundation and no one could collapse her. A coma was just a pause for her and no semicolon could keep her away. It was only at the full stop that she stopped.\n\n\n\n-----\n\n\n\nHi there and thanks for stopping by. I\u2019m Guy, and you\u2019re listening to my surreal sketchbook of reality.\n\n\n\n-----\n\n\n\nEpisode 22, The Upper Hand in Debate\n\n\n\nWe use languages to communicate and words to understand each other. This episode Is a semi-philosophical look at language. I\u2019m not a professional philosopher by any means and my approach can be quite absurd, illogical and not at all that serious, so - you've been warned. Do not take this podcast too seriously. If you tend to take things too seriously, this might not be the podcast for you. Seriously. I mean it. Find another podcast to listen to.\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re still here? Good. Let\u2019s talk about language. Words don\u2019t really have a meaning from the get-go. Meaning is what we pour into words. Words, when spoken, are just sounds, and the written word is just squiggly lines on a blank piece of paper. It\u2019s the meaning we pour into those words that makes them count, and those meanings, in turn, can make those words of ours very powerful. Words create our story, help us communicate with each other, exchange ideas. When we collect all those words together, they make up our language.\n\n\n\nYou might think your language is the same as the language of that guy living next door. You are not entirely wrong. Some meanings are almost universal and they are almost the same for everyone. The problem is that language has nuances and the meaning often gets lost in translation, even within the same language. Meanings might not be exactly the same for everyone. Part of this is because we sometimes find meaning between the lines, beyond the words. We might say something but the intonation of our voice can tell our listeners that we mean the exact opposite, even if we haven\u2019t meant to. Someone can write a story that is completely clear to him, only to find out other people understood his story in a completely different way. As I understand this story, this is where my break comes in. I\u2019ll be right back.\n\n\n\n-----\n\n\n\nThe Traffic Witch - a 100 word story\n\n\n\nShe had her own vehicle, commonly known as \u201cThe Broom\u201d, and she enjoyed driving it through traffic tunnels. The rush of cars coming out through the other side, bumping into each other made her giggle. Getting rid of the evidence was a little messy. Usually, it involved accurately targeted lightning bolts, directed at various witnesses, both in the cars and around them. She did enjoy the various commentators, both on television and on YouTube. She liked it when they called her \u201ca force of nature\u201d. It was when they started connecting her to global warming that she gave up though.\n\n\n\n-----\n\n\n\nWelcome back. There are many languages in this world. Some have words that other languages don\u2019t have. Some miss words that seem essential in other languages. Not all languages are created equal, and some seem to define the people who speak them. You can learn several languages, then you\u2019ll have an insight into the minds of nations, how they use words, how they connect them into sentences. The order in which words connect in a sentence might give you insight into what is more important to the people who use a certain language. The very sound of a language might suggest that the people using it have a certain temperament that goes well with the general sound of that language.\n\n\n\nYou think you understand your own language. You might learn another and think you understand that one as well. You would probably come across languages y