"What the Heck is an App?!"

My father seems to think he knows a lot about technology.

"My Internet doesn't work because you have MSN on there!"

And in more recent years..

"My computer shut down because you were on that Facebook garbage!"  And a couple weeks ago..

"What the heck is an APP?!"

I actually had to think about a good way to break it down for him or anyone. I started off by saying it's an application.

"Well.. what does it do?" he asked.

Well, there's almost an app for everything! There's games, how-to's, entertainment, news sources and many more options. An app can do almost anything.. but not one app can do everything.

That answer just received a confused look and he brought it up again a couple days later.

"So.. It's a program?" he questioned. Actually, dad, it kind of is! An app is a software program, a special type of software program. The term app is commonly used to refer to software on a smartphone or mobile device and that is the type I am currently referring to as well.

Now, I think there are quite a few ways you can make this what I'm going to call "explain to your parents friendly," these are the two I have gone with;

1. A program that is made for specific websites or functions, from anything from games to news. (Like I previously stated,) not all apps do everything, but they are all designed for their own purpose. You can compare it to having a short cut on your desk top on your computer, but what the app will bring you to is a smartphone friendly version of the site.
Perhaps chuck a couple examples in there like Google, an alarm clock, locating your car in a parking lot and finding recipes.

2. You can explain it the way The American Dialect Society did when they named the term 'app' the word of the year for 2011.

"The shortened slang term for a computer or smart phone application."

Helpful. If all else fails.. do what I plan on doing, buy them an iPod touch for their Birthday, so they can play bejeweled and figure it all out.. after all, he does know "everything" about technology.