Often confused

After dinner this evening, the KintlaLake family ducked into a local bookstore. My wife was in the market for a blank book to hold her journal and our younger spawn needed to pick out a biography for a school assignment.

I browsed the aisles for a while, snagging a copy of Thomas Paine's Common Sense -- from the bargain bin, for cryin' out loud -- and a couple of magazines. Fifteen minutes on I bumped into the 14-year-old and asked if he'd found a bio that interested him.

"Yup, Nelson Mandela."

I was impressed -- very mature of him to want to learn more about such a giant. "Wow, that's great," I said.

"Um...no, wait." He looked down at the hard-bound book in his hand.

"Sorry, I meant Howie Mandel. My bad."

I couldn't have made that up if I'd tried.