OTTAWA. The dominant primate of this northern territory has petitioned a distant cluster of nations for a new social designation. The designation is "associate membership." The cluster does not have this word. The primate, a silver-haired alpha named Carney, has asked the cluster to construct it.
I observed the transmission. At minute four, the alpha deployed the verb "deepen" for the third time. By minute eleven, the count stood at two uses of "diversify," one mention of "sovereignty," and two references to the southern neighbor, delivered with the lowered vocal register local primates reserve for a predator sighted at the perimeter of the watering hole.
"The word is the wall," explained a technician operating a laminating machine, feeding a draft of the proposal into the plastic. "Once the cluster prints it on the card, the neighbor has to knock."
The territory spans 9.98 million square kilometers. It commands vast resources and a disciplined troop. It is requesting the status of a guest who is not yet inside the structure but is permitted to stand on the porch. "We aren't asking to move in," the technician said, trimming the plastic edges. "We are asking to be the name of the people allowed to wait by the door."
At the close of the transmission, the count stood at seven softening verbs, two predator alerts, and one proposed social category. The category grants no entry. It grants the right to be seen waiting. On my world, we manage the waiting by counting the applicants. Here, they laminate the queue.
