Jeana Dempsy, age 8, of Pasadena, Texas, for her question:

Why do they call all goats Billy?

Only half the goats may be called Billy. Nobody knows how this started, but it was ages ago. Every father goat was named Billy and every lady goat was named Nanny. So half of them are Billy goats and the other half are Nanny goats. All goats are smart, with alert minds of their own. Shepherds also gave names to their mischievous baby goats and playful young sheep. Baby goats are kids and baby sheep are lambs.

When these names were given out, every young human being was called a child. Much later, some people started calling children kids    and nowadays almost everybod; does it. Andy, however, thinks this is unfair. Young people have a right to be called children and young goats have a right to be called kids. It's only polite to use the right names. Besides, children and kids are not at all alike. Maybe we can help straighten out the mix up politely. Let's start calling all our young human friends children    and maybe other folk will follow our example.