“He thought I didn’t understand. He thought nothing had been communicated. And I was angry. I was hurt. All the misunderstandings that tie the world up and keep people apart were quivering before me at once, waiting for me to untangle them, explain them, and I couldn’t. I didn’t know the words, the grammar, the syntax. And—” Something else was happening in her Oriental face, and he strained to catch it. “Yes?” “—Babel-17.”
