Scraping the sky

On a plane back from St. Louis this Thursday, we circled the Chicago downtown. A four-year-old boy repeatedly asked his mother and sister, "Do skyscrapers scrape the sky?" When told "No," he began importuning, "Why not? Why not!" For his mother "skyscraper" was a dead metaphor. For the child, it had the vivid power of the day it was coined.

I wish I could have asked him "Does the sky like being scraped like a dog having its ears scratched?" but the mom was setting him straight. What must he think of the name, Luke Skywalker?