a tale of two “dads”

Mikey and Del were wrapping up a hard morning of playing with Legos. “Dad,” yelled Del, “is it time for lunch?”

Del’s dad poked his head into the bedroom doorway. “I don’t know, son. I think Dad was thinking about grilling some burgers this afternoon.”

Del’s dad was referring to Del’s grandpa. You see, the men in Del’s family had an interesting habit: the fathers there preferred to go by “Dad.” Their wives called them this, their kids called them this, and their other relatives did too. So Del called both his father and his grandfather “Dad.” Occasionally this led to confusion, but generally the context made it clear who he meant.

After lunch, Mikey went home and told everyone who would listen that “Del has two dads.” He couldn’t figure out why Del and his family were irritated by this.

Eventually, Del’s mom, who was a junior high English teacher, called Mikey’s mom and asked her to explain to Mikey the difference between two dads and two “dads” (two who are called “dad”). Mikey’s mom apologized, and promised to teach her son about the importance of quotation marks.

Note for the uninformed: this parable concerns Dr. Brown’s repeated accusation in our recent debate that I believe in two gods.