About a year ago, I spotted a notice on a blog about a New York Times editor who needed help writing a book. His idea was to take all the silly questions kids ask and get real answers from experts. He was asking people to e-mail him some of their kids’ questions.
My daughter had recently asked me “Why do they call it soccer? Because they wear socks?” I promptly sent in the question and got an e-mail back thanking me and saying it might be in the book.
Well, Wendell Jamieson has just published “Father Knows Less, or: Can I Cook My Sister?” It’s gotten good reviews and Jamieson recently appeared at R.J. Julia’s Booksellers in Madison. Of course, I was curious if my daughter’s question made the cut.
I was in Borders recently with my 3- and 7-year old daughters, and they were less well-behaved than the “Don’t tase me, bro” guy. I could only quickly flip through the book and didn’t see anything about soccer. No matter, it’s still a good book and here’s to a newspaper guy making some coin, but he’s got a ways to go before he reaches Yale levels.
As for my daughter’s question, it’s something about football clubs in 19th century England being called “associations.”