They are readily distracted by irrelevant stimuli. If I bend my finger the world will fall. The way things are arranged in a shop window has a special message for me. This refers to the way words and thoughts are connected to each other. Whereas in normal thought there is a continuity of intended meaning, associational impairment in schizophrenia shows continuity that depends on a narrow focus, usually on individual words or sounds, without regard to the intial intended meaning of the thought.
Flowers have pistils.
They are the flower's only form of protection. This means that the schizophrenic gives in and focuses excessively on the most obvious meaning of words, even when that meaning is wrong for the context. Disordered speech - Speech, depending heavily on abstraction and logic, is often greatly disrupted in schizophrenia. In mild forms this might simply result in minor misuse of words, an odd quality to the choice of words, or fabricated words. Idiosyncrasy - This refers to speech or thoughts that seem random, clearly not related to other current conversation or thought content.