What Trucks Eat

27 Months: “A trash truck eats trash, but an ice cream truck doesn’t each ice cream and a fire truck doesn’t eat fire.”

When we’re new to the world, I guess naming conventions just don’t make a lick of sense. Those large vehicles much bigger than Mommy’s car have tons of different names and uses. Some sell ice cream. Some pick up trash. Some put out fires. All of these, and, somehow, pick-ups and semis, are called “trucks.” Meanwhile, other big vehicles have their own names: bus. Ambulance. Van. There’s no rhyme or reason to the system.

As my daughter pointed out, even among those that are given the same vague designation “truck,” there’s no pattern to why they have their names. Sure, they’re named after something related to their purpose, but there’s no real connection between that purpose and the name. If a trash-truck is a trash-eater, shouldn’t a fire-truck be a fire-eater? It makes perfect sense, especially if you’re two.

I guess that at some point in early childhood, our brains all accept these strange inconsistencies in language and decide to accept different kinds of trucks for what they are, even if we can’t figure out how their names make sense. One thing was never quite clear for me individually, though. If someone can explain to me why a semi-truck isn’t half the average size of an 18-wheeler, please get in touch with me. I’d really like to know.