Mr. Tegafy

I was just talking with my dad (Tada) about Farmer John's cheese and he reminded me of a story from his own youth that I have heard many times and it always gives me a good chuckle. When Tada was little, my grandparents, who were both geologists, used to discuss work at the dinner table. My grandma started hearing Tada talk about Mr. Tegafy. Not knowing anyone by that name, Gran asked Tada who he was talking about, to which Tada replied, "Dad's friend Mr. Tegafy." I guess Gran and my grandfather pieced it together that Mr. Tegafy was "my stratigraphy" -- a term used in geology to describe the layering of rocks. The way Tada tells the story, my grandfather was always talking about "well, my stratigraphy tells me...", so Tada assumed that Mr. Tegafy was a pretty important person. Kids are pretty clever, and it is funny to think about my dad, my children's Tada, being so small and clever.