"An Elephant has No Opposite" - explained.

My friend, Lindsay, gave me a red elephant this past December... She's given me several (which I adore), but he's one of my favorites simply because he's different; almost abstract.

He currently spends his pachyderm days on a shelf in my office. A couple of weeks ago, a girl walked past him and said to me, "I like your elephant. ...Or is that a mouse?".

I thanked her for the compliment and confirmed that it was an elephant. I can see how it might be confusing; so many animals have trunks.

Hearing the brief exchange...one of my coworkers popped her head around the corner, and declared that an elephant was the opposite of a mouse.

I know the fable she's thinking of...and I get that they (elephants and mice) are very different animals. Opposite ends of the animal kingdom spectrum maybe, but not opposites... A dog is not the opposite of a cat; it's nemesis - perhaps.

For whatever reason, the conversation stuck with me. When this blog was born, "An Elephant has No Opposite" was the second thing that came to mind. And so - I went with my second instinct.

We say so many things that don't make sense...I'm sure I do it more often than I'm aware. This is me though...trying to pay attention. I'll let you know how it goes. In the mean time, should you say something like..."there are many different variations"...don't be surprised if I call you out. I'm on a mission to prevent and fight crimes of redundancy.