A theory of communication

A: It's incredible how you guys manage to communicate with your bai. She speaks only Telugu, and none of you speak Telugu.
B: Ya. It is ok most of the time. We just need to tell her how many cups of tea she has to make in the morning and how many chappatis  for lunch.
A: But how does it work out when she has to tell a more complex thing. Like just now when she was telling you this story about why she came late and you had no bloody clue what she was talking about.
B: Haha. That's why I asked C to listen to her. He knows a bit more Telugu than me but he can also have a hard time understanding her.
A: I have a theory! When she tells a story, you try to pick up certain keywords that you understand and try to construct a story of your own. If the story you construct makes sense, you think that you know the story when you could be entirely wrong.
B: Now also, all I got was a few words - she mentioned something about keys and some money but I could not make any sense out of it.
A: Maybe you don't have enough data points to construct the story. If you had to plot the deviation from the truth of the story you were trying to construct, it will form a straight line if it makes sense. If it was the exact story she was telling, it would be the x-axis. Otherwise, it will have a slope.

C enters

B: What is she saying?
C: She says she fainted on the way back from the market and could not find her purse later. It must have fallen down somewhere. She had some Rs 100 in her purse and our room key. She had to go back find the purse again.
B: That's how she got late.
A: I wonder if you understood everything she said.
C: Haha. I could not make out everything. This may not be the complete story.

Doorbell. C exits to answer.

B: I wonder how this fits into your theory.
A: I guess he must have got those keywords - market, Rs 100, purse, room key etc. And maybe some actions too. At least the story is believable!
B: Maybe the plot is a straight line in this case. But it could have a slope.
A: When you try to fit in the rest of the missing stuff, if you make a plot, it will certainly reflect your understanding. Like if it comes out as a straight line, you think you are getting the story. It is when suddenly one point deviates from the curve that you realize something is wrong with your understanding.
B: What if the plot is a smooth curve and not a straight line?
A: No idea. I am guessing as long as it is smooth, it will not really make a difference.

C re-enters

C: I know the full story now. She went to the market to buy some vegetables. On the way back she realized that she had left her purse at the groceries'. She had our room key and Rs 100 in her purse. She rushed back at the groceries' and asked for her purse. The guy at the groceries' told her she didn't leave any purse but she was confident she did. She finally asked him to give back the key at least. The guy did just that.