Comment reductio ad absurdum (Score 3, Interesting) 173
Children are very highly specialized in reducing an argument to absurdity. This is a very important tool in logic and, in my opinion, it is no better exemplified elsewhere other than in Lewis Carroll's books, which I think is why Miranda's kid interpreted his father's statement as absurd. As a mathematician, Carroll was quite aware of how easily logical errors come about. I like citing when Humpty Dumpty explains what an un-birthday is to Alice:
“I mean, what is an un-birthday present?"
A present given when it isn't your birthday, of course."
Alice considered a little. "I like birthday presents best," she said at last.
You don't know what you're talking about!" cried Humpty Dumpty. "How many days are there in a year?"
Three hundred and sixty-five," said Alice.
And how many birthdays have you?"
One.”
I suppose Miranda could have been more explicit and said "along with", rather than just using "with" alone. As another example of this, we say "a glass of water", despite the glass not being made of water. Yet we don't say "a glass with water". And we certainly don't drink the glass, but rather its contents. I find all this fascinating. Brits have trouble understanding some American phrases as well for pretty much the same reason. Same thing goes for European Spanish and Latin American Spanish. Maybe feeding an AI with several samples of such phrases, as said and interpreted by multiple cultures would better train it to deal with such "inconsistencies"?