October 29, 2011

how did he NOT know?

tonight, during dinner, anth asked us why Kleenex was called Kleenex.
Grandpa Savarese, who was visiting before the OSU vs. Wisconsin game, started to make up a creative story about a gentleman named John Kleenex. 
bern consulted the Wikipedia app on his phone. 
here, we all learned that the material was originally designed as a cotton replacement for gas mask filters during World War I. 
bern read on for a bit, but anth had stopped listening. 
he looked directly across the kitchen table at me, then tilted his head back and held up his palms. 
looking anguished, anth spoke to the ceiling, "how did i never know this before?"


fortunately, anth's severe disappointment in his content knowledge regarding Kleenex was able to be assuaged by a piece of pumpkin pie. 
though the moment made me wonder if, perhaps, mom and dad's love of both Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit has created an unhealthy expectation to know any and all random facts. . .

No comments:

Post a Comment