After a few weeks of keeping most of her thoughts to herself, Natalie explained to me today that she really prefers to jazz up the English language in her own special way. She told me how much she loves the word, "osmosis," so I asked her to define it for me. This was her response:
"It's when cells in a plant are like this (she holds up her hands and makes a circle with her fingers) and then split apart. It has something to do with sunlight and plants and KGB or that other three letter thing that has to do with plants."
Natalie let's visit dictionary.com to show you just how wrong you are.
os-mos-is
–noun
1.
Physical chemistry, Cell Biology .
a.
the tendency of a fluid, usually water, to pass through a semipermeable membrane into a solution where the solvent concentration is higher, thus equalizing the concentrations of materials on either side of the membrane.
b.
the diffusion of fluids through membranes or porous partitions. Compare endosmosis, exosmosis.
2.
a subtle or gradual absorption or mingling: He never studies but seems to learn by osmosis.
The act that Natalie described, the division of a cell, is known as mitosis which does indeed occur in the cells of plants. I cannot think for the life of me think of what she might mean by KGB, but that is the Russian mafia and has nothing at all to do with cell division or osmosis. More disturbingly, Natalie told me that she was at the top of her high school class (this was confirmed by a classmate or I would not re-print it). Yet another reason I need to move out of Revere before my child is born.
Awww. But she's nice. What's more important for a child, being competent and smart enough make it to adulthood, or love? Remember it was love that killed the KGB. Not smartitude.
ReplyDeleteOsmosis.