When I launched my browser this afternoon, my Google homepage came up, complete with the latest three New York Times headlines, one of which was “Crack is Found in Shuttle’s Foam Insulation”. Now admittedly, I was tired, but I’m almost sure I’m not the only person who, upon seeing this headline out of context, was surprised at the thought that some of our astronauts might be trying to sneak a pick-me-up on board.

Of course, a click to the page revealed the real meaning within seconds. I know that journalistic style dictates omitting unnecessary elements of language in headlines such as the grammatical articles a, an, and the, but the difference between a crack and crack can be significant.

About an hour later, my 7-year old son Colin read the word menu on the phone display, and asked, “Hey, what does a menu have to do with a phone?” Although he’s quite computer-savvy for a seven-year old, he’s never had cause to refer to that bar at the top of the screen as a menu but simply uses it, reserving the word menu for one meaning: a nested list of foods and drinks at a restaurant. After I explained, he pretty much just made fun of how ridiculous it is to not be able to tell the difference between the two meanings of the word menu out of context. He proceeded to crack me up with his proposal of using different intonations to apply meaning: menu for restaurants, and menu for computers.

Simplicity is great, but sometimes we need more information, even about something as simple as a word.