"Has anyone seen my cord?"

"Which one?"

"The one that connects my camera to the computer so that I can download pictures."

"No. Haven't seen it since I disconnected it to plug in my MP3 player."

"Where'd you put it?"

"Can't remember."

"I need it. Can you go look for it?"

"Just take Clint's from his computer."

"That's his cord for his camera on his computer. I want my cord for my camera on my computer."

"What's the big deal? We must have 4 of those cords around the house. Use a different one."

"The deal is, that was my cord for my camera and it was set up so that I could download whenever I wanted."

"I don't get it. Just go look for another cord."

"I don't want to look for another cord. I want my cord returned to me."

"What is it with you? All the cords are the same. Just use any of them."

"I don't care about the sameness of cords. I just want it plugged in so that when I want to download pictures, I don't have to hunt around looking for cords."

"Oh my goodness, I can't believe we are having this conversation. What's with you and "your" cord. Just find another one. Or go buy one. They probably only cost $30."

"That's not the point. The point is, I had my computer set up so that I could easily enjoy my hobby of picture taking. Now I have to take the house apart to look for a cord when I shouldn't have to. If you take apart my set up, please return things back to their place when you're done."

"Why? I don't get it. Just go take the cord from Clint's computer. I works just the same. Don't you get it? You don't need your actual cord. Any of those cords will do, just go get one."

"How would you feel if I went into your bedroom and borrowed the cord that connects your guitar to the amp? and I didn't return it? And then you wanted to play, and you couldn't find your cord? and when you asked me about it I said, "What's the big deal? Go buy another one?" How would you feel?"

"First of all, I don't play my guitar anymore so I wouldn't care. And what does my guitar cord have to do with your camera?"

"Pretend you love playing your guitar. It brings you alot of joy. When you hear a new rif on the radio, you look forward to trying to replicate that on your own. But when you get to your room, you find you can't do it cuz someone took your cord. Would you be frustrated if that person who took your cord just said, "Buy another one, they're probably only $30.?"

"What are you talking about? I have two cords. So if someone took the first one, I'd use the other one. But I don't play the guitar anymore.

Clint gets out of bed and glowers at me from the top of the stairs. "Here," he says, tossing down a cord. "I don't understand why you're making a big deal out of this. Just use a different cord. They all work. You don't need yours."

"It's not the cord. It's the principle. If you move something of mine, just return it."

"What are you talking about? Can you explain that? How hard is it for you to look for a cord when you need one? Why can't you walk over to Clint's computer and take his cord when you need to do your camera thing?"

"Bups gets a lot of joy making things out of wood in his shop...."

"WHAT does he have to do with this?"

"... and because he likes to shape wood with different edge profiles, he needs alot of router bits."

Clint looks at Max. "Do you have any idea what she's talking about"?

"... and he finds it frustrating to hunt for different bits every time he needs a different look, so he bought a new router for every bit."

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"Making things out of wood is his hobby. He does it for fun. He bought a bunch of routers so that he wouldn't be frustrated every time he started to make something. It's like that with me and my camera. I love taking pictures. Now that I have a digital camera, the second part of my hobby requires that I have access to a computer. I hate it that this second part is always so frustrating. Either I have to fight for my right to be on the computer in the first place, or the number and size of the images freezes up the system, or my cord is missing. "

"I can't believe we are still talking about this. Clint gave you a cord."

"You wanted me to explain why I was making a big deal. I've tried to explain it three ways from Friday and you guys aren't getting it."

"Nope. We're not."

We all speak English in this house.

And we totally do not understand each other.