My Family And Other Animals, Part 10

(On the way home from school to visit my family, my sister – younger by two years –

and I are chatting over the phone. She had just said something a bit lacking in sensibility.)

Me: *jokingly* Well, it seems one Neanderthal is still alive.”

Sister: “What’s a Neanderthal?”

Me: “They were humanoids from the Paleolithic era.”

Sister: “So, like, they were humans?”

Me: “No, no, I said humanoid. See, they – like us – are of the genus homo, but they are not the same species, sapiens.”

Sister: “Huh? They were gay?”

Me: *sighs* “[Sister], ‘homo’ means same. Presumably, just as in every species, some were homosexual, but that’s beside the point, though it’s worth pointing out an entirely same-sex species would be illogical from an evolutionary standpoint.”

Sister: “But if they’re not human, does that make them animals?”

Me: “Dude, we ARE animals!”

Sister: “But… we don’t have fur.”

(I have absolutely no idea how she passed biology.)