What Happens? (CS)

I have never considered myself to be a person who becomes interested in sport, any kind of sport. So while a ping pong ball does flip a switch in my mind that makes me recognize that, "Oh, this is related to ping pong," this is about the extent of my thoughts. Ping pong holds no real meaning for me, no enticing draw, and I would glance past a ping pong ball immediately. It would not hold my eye at all.

I am also not American, and until recently I had never even seen a solo cup, let alone realized what it was for. Seeing a red cup, I would think, "Oh, there's a plastic red cup," and that's about it. I might consider a picnic, or some kind of school event with cheap plastic cutlery, for a brief second, but then I would move on - because, really, who spends time dwelling on the topic of plastic cups? It would have never occurred to me that a solo cup isn't just a plastic cup - in American culture, this red plastic cup is much more meaningful, it's a glaring signifier of a PARTY.


Separately, I would barely spare a second thought on either of these two items. Together, though, I know immediately what their relationship comes to mean. I may not be American, but I still know what beer pong is, and seeing these two objects together creates an automatic and instantaneous reaction in my mind: beer pong. These two objects are entirely unrelated, and yet they come together for this sole reason, which is why the reaction is instant - because it is the only possible reaction, the only possible conclusion that you could draw from placing them together. (At least, the only reaction any college student would have!) The pairing seem unlikely and random, but they fit perfectly together. If I was a real frat bro, I might even consider it fate.