So imagine my surprise

Post title an homage to Local Egg, who always manages to find song lyrics to fit.

Recently I was driving somewhere with Z and someone cut us off at a rotary. "Dude!" I shouted (I do make an effort not to swear around the kids). "Mommy, why did you call that other driver 'dude'?" Z asked. "Uh, because I didn't know their name, honey." I replied.

A few days later we were walking down the street when a tall woman with short hair passed us. She said hi to me and Z , and we returned the greeting. Before the other woman was out of earshot, Z asked me her name. I told her I didn't know. Z thought for a second and inquired "Oh, Mommy, was that a dude?". The woman shot me a dirty look.

Also, as a follow-up to the Noam Chomsky post - last week Z narrowly avoided a collision with Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Nobel prize winners of the Boston area, beware of small blonde children!