Clay

That is how you learn a language. That is how your workplace works. That is what you know of nuclear physics and gossip.

Have you ever tried to build a tall tower of wet clay? You start with one lump, add another one, a third one on top of those ones, and after a few more lumps it will all fall to pieces.

However, if you add one lump and let it dry, you can add another lump the next day. And then, when they are both solid, you can add a third one on top. Letting each lump solidify before you go on makes sure that you have a working base to build on.

When you learn a new language, you start with a few words and one or two grammatical rules. Once you have used them enough for them to stick in your brain, you can add new ones, which build on top of the previous ones. You do not have to wait of course. You can be immersed in new words and rules, but only a few ones will solidify each day for you to have something to build on next day. This is why you cannot learn a foreign language over night.

In your workplace it works the same way. If you one day add 100 new employees to a group of 10, you will probably have chaos for some time, and it is possible that the experiences of the original group will be drowned in the chaos. However, if you add one new employee a day, it is much more likely that they can integrate into the group and help building the organisation. (To be honest, that is not always good. Sometimes the initial group has some bad habits, which perpetuates unless they get a shock treatment.)

Learning nuclear physics is the same thing. You learn about atoms, neutrons, electrons and protons. Only once you have solidified that knowledge in your brain, it makes sense to talk about electron orbits and quarks and Heisenberger.

And the gossip of tabloids works the same way. No one is interested in whether mr. Smith goes to prison, as no one knows who he is in the first place. He is wet clay with nothing to rest on. However, once it turns out that he used to go fishing with a known actor, who we learnt to know through previouos tabloids and movies, and who now has solidified in our minds, the clay of mr. Smith has something to rest on, and his prison sentence will make sense and concern us. And as soon as we are used to mr. Smith, we will be interested to hear about mrs. Brown who was his sister, and who came fourth in some sport in the Olympic games. And soon we have built a tower of gossip, aere perennius.

The first time you watch a soap opera, the actors are wet clay. The second time, they have hardened and make sense, and the producer can add more actors and other television series which build on the first ones.

This is why God created Adam from clay. He always hoped Adam would make it in show business.