wishful thinking

'It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens (Alice had once made the remark) that, whatever you say to them, they Always purr. `If them would only purr for "yes" and mew for "no," or any rule of that sort,' she had said, `so that one could keep up a conversation! But how can you talk with a person if they always say the same thing?' On this occasion the kitten only purred: and it was impossible to guess whether it meant `yes' or `no.' So Alice hunted among the chessmen on the table till she had found the Red Queen: then she went down on her knees on the hearth-rug, and put the kitten and the Queen to look at each other. "Now, Kitty!' she cried, clapping her hands triumphantly. `Confess that was what you turned into!' (`But it wouldn't look at it,' she said, when she was explaining the thing afterwards to her sister: `it turned away its head, and pretended not to see it: but it looked a little ashamed of itself, so I think it must have been the Red Queen.')
`Sit up a little more stiffly, dear!' Alice cried with a merry laugh. `And curtsey while you're thinking what to -- what to purr. It saves time, remember!' And she caught it up and gave it one little kiss, `just in honour of having been a Red Queen.'