Artful descriptors
Our satellite receiver lost signal the other day. As Bobbin and I sat waiting for the receiver to complete it's self diagnostics, she pointed to the status bar on the screen and asked "What's that for?"
I explained that the bar showed you how much work the receiver had done, and how much it had left to do. And when the receiver finished all the work, the receiver would be fixed and we could watch TV.
She thought about this, and replied "It's like an Otter Pop! Like someone is squeezing it and squeezing it at the bottom to make it go up and up, and then eating it and eating it at the top until the otter pop is all gone, and the TV is working again!"
A) Creative analogy. And effective.
B) I tend to think of the status bar as "filling up" from left to right. Clearly, Bobbin interpreted it as "emptying out" from right to left. I found that kinda interesting.
At the dinner table this evening, Bobbin started complaining of a tummy ache. She was moaning and groaning as if she needed her appendix out (which is exactly what she was, in fact, emulating. "Madeline" is her current favourite movie. And her favourite part of that movie is when Madeline gets a tummy ache and it turns out she needs her appendix taken out). I asked her if she was ok or if she needed to lie down and rest for a bit. To which she replied, "Oh, it's not so bad that I'd need a wheelchair or anything. I'll live".
Oh thank goodness.
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