Frame of Reference

I enjoy "collecting" personalized license plates. Some, I "get" right away. Others, I figure out over time. And some, I never understand.

Of the latter, I have decided there are two types. First are plates that I, or someone else, can readily understand out once we discover the "trick", such as the one that was meant to be read in a rear-view mirror (YWYMTUO) or the one that was in French (QUOI SUR). Then there are the plates which, I assume, convey an "inside joke" for the person whose car it's on.

The thing you need to understand what you're seeing is the proper frame of reference. With the license plates, I'll never understand the "inside jokes" because I don't have (and can't acquire) the proper frame of reference.

This came back to me in a recent conversation I had. I was chatting with a casual friend, a woman I met on the train. She was telling me about something she recently purchased. She couldn't find one in a store but found one on the web.

It's round and made out of rock. It's drilled for a cord and has a light inside. You put salt in it. It's orange. It makes the air better, removes cooking odors, makes it easier to breathe and easier to sleep at night. It's wonderful.

Parts of the description reminded me of an ionizer or air filter but... Rock? Light? Orange?? Salt???

Now, one thing I need to add here is that my friend does not speak English. She is a deaf woman I met on the morning commute train. We converse in ASL. My ASL skills are rusty for lack of use but getting better with daily practice. Sometimes I miss a word or two and have to ask her to repeat or try to find an alternative.

This thing she bought had me stumped. I swear I had the words right, but WHAT was it? What was I missing?

As it turns out, what I was missing was the proper frame of reference. When I asked her again the next day she repeated everything from before but this time specifically called it "salt light". That produced a Google hit (where salt + ionizer had not).

Oh my goodness. Look at that. Big round lump. Rock. Salt. And it's Orange.

On the third day she brought me the URL of the place where she found hers. Different manufacturer. Same idea.

Sometimes when you don't understand something, you really do. You just don't realize it because you're missing the proper frame of reference.

Rock. Light. Salt .