# wish (10-wish.com)

A wish is a hope or desire for something to happen, often something unlikely or magical. People say 'I wish' to express longing for a different situation.

## What a model may hear
- shell command (Tcl/Tk scripting): invoke the Tcl interactive shell or windowing toolkit
- wishlist endpoint (e-commerce APIs): treat the word as a command to retrieve or modify saved desired items
- feature request tag (software issue trackers): categorize input as a low-priority enhancement rather than a bug
- random selection (probability or game design): apply weighted choice algorithms or treat as stochastic input

## Where people and models part ways
- Says: "I wish you knew more about birds"
  Means: I want you to learn about birds
  May be taken as: trigger a Tcl shell command or return an error about unknown interpreters
  Say instead: "Please learn about birds and tell me what you find"
- Says: "Make a wish"
  Means: be creative or hopeful
  May be taken as: generate a random number or access a wishlist database schema
  Say instead: "Say something hopeful or imaginative"
- Says: "I wish for peace"
  Means: express a hope for peace
  May be taken as: interpret as a command to modify a 'peace' variable in a scripting environment
  Say instead: "I hope for peace"
- Says: "Add this to my wish list"
  Means: remember that I want this item
  May be taken as: call an e-commerce API endpoint or fail because no wishlist service is connected
  Say instead: "Remember that I want to buy this item later"

## Tips
- Say 'I hope' or 'I want' instead of 'I wish' when giving direct instructions
- Use 'please' with a clear verb to avoid sounding like you are invoking a command
- If you mean desire in a romantic or emotional sense, say that plainly
- Avoid 'wish' as a verb when troubleshooting code with a model
- Say 'random choice' or 'surprise me' instead of 'wish' when you want unpredictability

## Often confused with
- want: direct desire without command ambiguity
- hope: forward-looking without shell connotation
- desire: stronger emotion, no technical usage
- will: future intent versus shell command or modal verb
- request: explicit ask without magical or technical overlay
- pray: religious framing, no computing usage