We all commit this crime every day of our lives: answering a question without knowing, for sure, the answer. I don’t mean knowing in any existential sense. I simply mean that, given time, a good library and/or search engine, you could find a citable reference for answering with the information you provide, or a close fascimile… rather than the mix of knowledge, blather, and everything in between that we all just live with. I do it myself plenty. My wife has taken to asking me if I really know the answer, or I’m just doing my “answer-boldly-and-confidently-and-see-if-that-works” routine. I’ll admit that there are times I’ve earned that suspicion, despite actually knowing quite a few things (often without really knowing why… trivia fills the memory!). Still, everyone once in a while you just want to be trusted as an all-knowing source.
The problem is, I have someone who does trust me as an all-knowing source, my son, and I want to give him the real answer every time. He’s a sponge, like any young child, and I cringe every time I elide my response or otherwise provide him with bad information. Today, he read the numbers on his cousin’s door right-to-left, and I explained to him that we read left-to-right. He, like most three-year-olds, asked “Why?”
I don’t know. So I told him “I don’t know. It’s an accident of history.” Which seemed to satisfy him, but left me itching to know the answer. I can’t really judge whether this source is definitive, but supposedly I was right. The Greeks found it easier (because more people are right-handed? easier to write left to right, and reading just followed?), and here we are. If anyone knows more details, I’m all ears. The boy doesn’t care anymore, but I do.
Wonder how many wrong answers I gave him today?