cosmolinguist | I still don't know where the wings come from.

"We like Johnny 'Guitar' Watson and Larry Williams," Andrew said when a Johnny "Guitar" Watson/Larry Williams song was playing a minute ago.

"Yeah, you said that, just recently."

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did. Yesterday. Or something."

"A Johnny 'Guitar' Watson and Larry Williams track hasn't been played in a while," he said. "You must be thinking of something else."

"No, I was thinking of that," I insisted. "I know the difference between things."

"Oh, do you?"

"Yeah!"

"What's the difference between a buffalo and a bison, then?"

"Hmm. I think I used to know that. Wait, aren't they the same thing? Because, the scientific name for them is bison bison ..."

"See, you don't know the difference."

"Shut up. You don't know either, do you?" was my clever reply.

"Yeah, but I'm not the one saying I do," he pointed out.

Boys.

To Google I go, then.

"Oh, that's cheating!" I soon called out. "Buffalo are water buffalo!" And some other kind, called the Cape buffalo. They're found in Asia and Africa, respectively. "Buffalo" is a misnomer for the North American animal, which are rightly called bison. The explanation for the origin of the confusion is that European explorers saw the bison and thought of buffalo. It doesn't seem particuarly likely to me—buffalo do not have humps on their backs, their horns are much longer and are curved more than the bison's, and they do not have as much hair or such large shoulders—but then you can never tell with those wacky European explorers. What will they think of next?