Missing The Point So Wildly It Flew Over The Arc De Triomphe

I’m leading an English-speaking tour, explaining the history and symbolism of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the Arc de Triomphe. A tourist raises their hand.

Tourist: “But… couldn’t they just find out who he is now, using DNA? They do it on TV all the time!”

The group goes quiet, all eyes on me.

Me: “The point isn’t that we can’t identify him. The point is that he stands for all the soldiers who can’t be.”

Tourist: “Yes, but we can identify them all now, right?”

The tourist’s partner leans in, while nodding and winking at me:

Tourist’s Partner: “They could, hun, but then they’d need to rename the monument, and that’s a lot of new signage.”

Tourist: “Huh… I guess.”

I was able to complete the tour without any more questions like that!