Having Intellectual Conversations With My Teen Is So Cool

My college freshman daughter waltzes into the kitchen and drops her bag by the dishwasher. “Hey mom!” she says. Before I can even return her greeting, she adds, “Guess what we’re learning about in linguistics class!” She proceeds to tell me some random, specific facts about how language works. She uses words I’ve never heard, and then explains them to me with articulate patience. She’s positively buzzing with fascination over how the world’s thousands of languages all have some kind of gramma...