Why I’d Rather Be Home
Posted on:: March 1st, 2003
I came back from my ridiculously compressed road trip last night, woke up at 8 AM to find that our 12-year-old had just crawled into bed with us, and had an “argument” with him about whether if you have a mouth you must also have lips.
He did not accept my reasoning that a blow hole is a type of mouth.
Ah, well, Webster’s defines a blow hole as a nostril in the top of a whale, so, no, a blow hole doesn’t have lips.
Though a nostril with lips reminds me of my Mr. Potatohead days…
I have to agree that a blow hole doesn’t qualify as a mouth, but let’s stay in the sea for a few minutes and see what we can find. (Plus, I just visited the Montery Bay Aquarium over President’s day).
Octopuses (Octupussi?) have beaks instead of lips. Same applies to chickens. (I mean have you ever seen chicken lips?)
Starfish, urchins, jellyfish, et al have mouths and no discernable lips. They all have tentacles to force the food in so lips are probably a hinderence.
Do clams have lips? Does the seam in the shell qualify as lips?
Although, I think ther is no arguement with the idea that home is better, and there is nothing quite so enjoyable as a challenge from youngster that force you to think about the challenge.
MWD