Fundamentalism

This week, while shopping for fruit at the Co-op, Larkin discovered what I think is the fundamental basis of variable algebra: "You know, if you take two bananas and add another two bananas... you have four bananas. But if you take two bananas and add two nectarines... you just have two bananas and two nectarines."

After a long pause, she went on to explain the basics of hierarchical classification structure: "Well, I guess you could just say you have four pieces of fruit."