The other day, my two and half year old asked what being "alive" meant. My wife went off on a tear about breathing and stuff which confused it even more. I explained that being alive meant that you could have more birthdays.

His eyes widened and was able to answer questions about whether the chair was alive or not. He said not because we have never celebrated a chair's birthday.

Takewaway - when communicating, you can either be technically correct or correctly understood, seldom both.