scientists, chefs, and mathematicians

In class the other day the students were doing guided discovery with base ten blocks (math manipulatives)....and the teacher asked "as a mathematician what could you do with these blocks?" After several responses, one boy said that, "you can put them in your mouth" and the teacher responded so fabulously..."Well, if we were scientists, we might put things in our mouths. If we were chefs, we would definitely put things in our mouths, but as mathematicians, we're not going to put things in our mouths. We're going to play with them on our desks!" It was a delight to hear her respond so calmly and in such a clever way!