Tower cranes

On a long car trip today, Isaac was talking about tower cranes. (Those are the stationary cranes they use for building really tall structures, in case you don't have a vehicle-obsessed child keeping you informed on these matters.)

I half-listened to him as we drove along. He was pretending to be one of the cranes himself, it turned out, rather than one of the operators. He talked about his work, saying he helped build skyscrapers, and that sometimes he helped restore old buildings, and that sometimes he worked with other cranes. He was on a roll; all he required from me was an occasional "Oh, yes?" and he could have talked all afternoon.

Then he said, "Tower cranes are different from people."

On the surface this seemed obvious, so I figured there must be more to it. I said, "Oh, yes?"

"Yes. With tower cranes, it's the females who wear the dark colors."

This was growing more interesting. I said, "Oh, yes?"

"Yes. It's the male tower cranes who get to wear the fancy things. Like birds."

Now it made sense. Isaac often ponders why human females get to wear brightly-colored sparkles and ruffles, while human males are stuck with more drab outfits. I guess with tower cranes (and birds), the males get the showy plumage.

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I don't think he made an explicit connection between cranes the tool and cranes the bird, but I thought it was a rather nice one.