Thanks to the tireless efforts of Sesame Workshop (formerly known as the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) to us old-schoolers), I thought everybody knew the meaning of the word share. However, a recent visit to the good old ISM – or should that be the curmudgeonly old ISM, proved me wrong.

I found out that they had an article titled Spread the Word – Sharing the Value of Supply Management and was intrigued. However, and I really shouldn’t be surprised by this, the article is for paying members only. That’s not “sharing”. That’s “hoarding”.

To explain the concept, I’ve asked Elmo and Zoe, from the Sesame Workshop, to help me out. Take it away, gang.

Zoe : Hi Elmo! What’s that?
Elmo: That’s Elmo’s shiny new red ball.
Zoe : Can I see it?
Elmo: I don’t know. Elmo really likes it.
Zoe : I’ll give it back.
Elmo: Okay. Here you go.
  Elmo tosses the ball to Zoe.
Zoe : Thank you. It’s a very nice ball! Catch!
  Zoe tosses the ball back to Elmo.
Elmo : Yes it is! Catch!
  Elmo tosses the ball back to Zoe.
Zoe : We’re playing ball!
  Zoe tosses the ball back to Elmo.
Elmo: And we’re sharing!

There you have it. Pretty easy concept, isn’t it? And it makes everyone happy.

As a bonus lesson, the doctor is also going to tell the ISM about the word irony. The Unabridged Dictionary.com defines irony as “the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning”. Alanis Morissette had a really good explanation of the concept, which can now be found on Youtube.