Same Tall

The other night, Gamble and I called Nic’s folks on the phone, the way we do many nights. For some reason, despite having on reasonably warm jammies, he decided that he wanted some socks, so he pulled out two white socks.

They weren’t quite a pair; one was a calf-length, and one was an ankle sock. After putting the ankle sock on, he scrunched up his face in disgust. Then he took the short sock off and went back to his closet for another. He found one that was also a calf-length sock.

The evening’s light was waning, and we’d not yet put on the light in his room, so I wasn’t sure the socks were different colors.

“Gamble, that sock looks grey. Is it grey?”

“No, Daddie. It’s white. See?” He held up his foot. The color still wasn’t clear to me. It’s amazing how color-blind we are in dim light.

A couple minutes passed, and we were playing on his bed when I held up his two feet. “Gamble, these socks are two different colors.”

He scrunched up his face, and he held his feet up in the waning sunlight, where he could see them more clearly. He shrugged, “That’s okay, Daddie. Because they’re the Same Tall.”

This resonates, as I remember the old Stephen Wright gag (found on Wikipedia):

I went into this bar and sat down next to a pretty girl. She looked at me and said, "Hey, you have two different colored socks on." I said, "Yeah, I know, but to me they're the same because I go by thickness."

Still. I prefer “Same Tall” as a punchline. But then again, I prefer Gamble to Stephen Wright.

They’re not the Same Tall.