If a child walking with her mother declares, “Mommy! Ice cream is cold!” I shake my head and think how smart I am by comparison. (“Do you know what Fahrenheit means? How about Kelvins? Got ya, sucker!”). But if a beret-clad French child turns to her mother and says “blahblahblah, Mere!” I gasp in wonder. The words I don’t understand! The guttural rs! She must know about Kelvins and can probably name water’s freezing point.
If the kid speaks Mandarin, forget it. The less I know of the language, the smarter she must be. Never mind that she may not speak English, the Hardest and Best Language On Earth.
The People Watcher 