Dad's day

In honor of Father's Day I will now share the story of my conversation with my father last Friday night at Sizzler.

(First you must understand that my Dad finds fault with almost every human invention and thinks that it could be "better" or at least not "made wrong.")

Dad: I don't know why they have so many words. It doesn't make any sense. Some languages make sense but English doesn't. They should have just one word for each thing. And in other languages your pronunciation may mean your life.

(Erin smiles.)

Dad: No, I'm serious. I had a friend in college who went to Africa with one of the professors and had to learn the language of the bush men there. It was a series of clicks and whistles and sounds and the word for "friend" and the word for "enemy" was very similar. He could have been killed if he'd mis-pronounced it. They shouldn't have words like that! One word for each meaning is the way it should be!

Erin: So language was made wrong?

(Dad smiles at the inside joke.)

Dad: Yes! They should go through the Dictionary and pull out all the words that mean the same thing and just pick one and throw the rest out.

Erin: Don't you think it would be a lot easier if they started with the Thesaurus?

(This would have been funnier if I then hadn't had to explain what a Thesaurus was. Once I did explain it, he agreed. Use the Thesaurus, pick out one good word, throw the rest away - boom - no need to even have a Thesaurus!)