Son walks up his dad and asks, "What does alternative mean?"

So dad begins to explain: imagine, you have a chicken egg. It gives you two optios: you can cook it and eat, or you can put it into the hatcher and get a little chicken.

-- So, this is an alternative?

-- No, not this. So, now you have a chicken, that grows from day to day. It'll give you another two options: you can sell it or you can bring a cockerel and get more chicken eggs in a while.

-- Is this what alternative means?

-- Not yet. Later, as you get more eggs, you can sell 'em for some money or you can keep 'em and in a while get even more chickens and cockerels.

-- So, that is an alternative?

-- Be patient, son, 'coz now you have quite a number of chickens and cockerels and you can sell all of them. Or you can keep part of them to produce more and more eggs and chikens.

-- Bla-bla-bla, is it finally what alternative means?

-- Nope. You see, you keep producing and selling eggs and chicken, your farm grows, your income increases, you're well and happy, until finally one day you find out that there's some bloody chicken flu and all your chicken business is fucked up and ruined.

-- SO IS THAT AN ALTERNATIVE?, -- cries out his son.

-- No, son, ducks is an alternative.