Mediate

(I haven't done a word of the day in months, might as well try it again)
Universal Translators don't help much if you don't understand the culture. When the Thrxya arrived, hovering in their gleaming gold colored ships over the White House, they seemed very patient with us while we learned their language and they learned ours.
Unfortunately, because the translators relied on their computers to get the messages right, we declared war on them. Here we are, pissy litte planet that won't even go into orbit, let alone the moon, and we threaten a species that has the technology to get here from whereever they are from. There are too many variations on phenomic structure to be sure that any communication is accurate. Hell, asking the cashier at the gas station how his day is going can be a difficult thing some days. It's even worse when the grammar used by a person depends on their social status.
We studied everything about their language that they shared. We debated over what message to send. Even though they'd been there for months, we decided on being friendly. "Welcome to Earth" we said in their language. Somehow we used the grammar structure reserved for God in their sacred scriptures. We said "R!pa shu-ug latkla Earth" instead of "Shu-ug Earth R!pa latkla." We hired an actor to record the message so we'd have it right. Right words, wrong order.
I'm sitting in the crater that once was the White House, trying to figure out exactly how I'm going to send our surrender.

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