A.I.

Wilber? Gordy? Babe?

My oldest nephew (12 years old) got to show a pig at a local county fair. His pig was under-sized and so he didn't qualify to win anything, but it was still a fun time for him.

On the way home, his parents were talking about what to do with the pig. "We could just butcher it and call it good." "Yeah, or we could breed it, sell the piglets and see if we can make our money back on the thing."

They settled on breeding, but my brother-in-law didn't want to buy or borrow another pig. "We could just A.I. it," he said.

During this conversation, my nephew was in the back seat, acting like he understood what was being discussed. "Yeah, A.I. sounds like a good idea," he said. "That would work."

They settled on "A.I." for the pig.

When they got home, my nephew went to the computer and hit Google. He learned that A.I. in this context means, "Artificial Insemination." He even saw a brief informative YouTube video about how the process is done.

Just smart enough to know I'm glad I'm not a pig

A few minutes later, he found his parents. "Mom, Dad, I know what A.I. means now. I'm gonna be busy that day."

After telling me the story, my sister challenged me. "Be honest... you didn't know what "A.I." meant, either."

I grinned. "Hey, I'm a programmer. To me, A.I. means Artificial Intelligence. I figured when you're done you'd be able to play chess with the pig."

Pig takes King's Rook! Checkmate! Oink!