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May 19, 2012
I've got a preposition for you
Jen: Dad, I've got a preposition for you.
Dad: Ok. What is it? "Of", "The","A" ?
Jen: Huh? Here's the preposition...let's get a foreign exchange student.
Dad: I'm not sure that I can take on adopting another kid right now.
Jen: You don't adopt them. They come for like a semester.
Dad: Oh. Uh. OK. Maybe I could take 6 months off and we could host one. Do you get to pick them out of catalogs like a mail order bride?
Jen: No, but you can say what country you want, and what age group. Let's get one from Zamboni.
Ivy: I'm not sure that's a country. I think that's what they mow the ice with.
Dad: I think probably if you don't know a preposition from a proposition, and a Zamboni from Zimbabwe, then we'd be doing more harm than good as a host family.
Dad gets out the globe. Tells them to find Zimbabwe. Ivy starts studying South America very intently. Eventually Jennifer locates it, one continent over.
Jen: OK. Wait. Not Zambabwe then. I want to get someone who lives with penguins. Like eskimos.
Dad: OK. So, no one lives with penguins. Eskimoes live near the artic circle. Penguins live on Antartica. So, there are no people living with penguins.
Jen: What about Canada? I want a foreign exchange student from Canada.
I go downstairs for a break. My brain can only deal with so much stupid at once. Come back upstairs. Conversation continues:
Jen: Let's get one from Belarus.
Ivy: Isn't that in Italy?
Dad: What language do they speak in Belgium?
Jen: Belgimanium?
Ivy: Belgimem?
Dad: They speak French, German, and English.
Update: It was pointed out that I confused articles with prepositions. My only excuse is that I went to public school. But we did diagram sentences. Something I doubt Jennifer will ever do.
Posted by Rob Kiser on May 19, 2012 at 12:36 PM
Comments
I am pretty sure they speak mostly flemish.
Posted by: mgb on May 20, 2012 at 9:21 PM
OK. So I was close. They speak Dutch(Flemish), French, and German.
Posted by: Rob Kiser 
on May 25, 2012 at 4:45 PM