Editor’s introductory note: This contribution was presented and discussed by the author at the 10th International Congress of Personal Construct Psychology (Australia, 1996) and it retains the conversational, and sometimes informal, style of a presentation. Stemming from his personal experience as a foreign attendee dealing with the “congress language”, the author explores the meanings and implications of language in human interactions, questioning himself and each of us – as a speaker, listener, translator and nevertheless as a reader – reminding us not to take for granted the world of meanings that come into play in the interaction, drawing the threads of a story.