ABSTRACT
A schoolchild became upset after discovering a pea in milk at lunchtime. Rumors flew, and reports hit the Chicago media: Urine had been found in pupils’ milk.1
A pea or pee? As the message was passed along, the substitution of one tiny letter turned the meaning inside out. So it goes often in the process of communicating. Success rests on sustaining the fragile bond between writer and audience, a bond possible only if both parties heed the structural conventions of language.
