It’s gone positively viral — the video of the dad who taught his teenage daughter a lesson by blasting holes in her laptop computer with his .45.  Evidently this guy was angered by his daughter’s Facebook post in which she complained about her oppressive domestic chores.

I saw it here yesterday.

I heard two calls to a radio show — responses to the video.

Each caller said that she agreed with what the father had done.  And, each said the dad was just “proving his point.”  Yet, it seems the only point he proved was that he was fully able to dramatically overreact, without apparent shame.  Perhaps the point he proved was that he was even more immature than his daughter.  I don’t believe this was the point he was trying to prove; or the point the callers thought he’d proven.

It is likely that what the callers actually meant was that the dad was just “making a point.”  (In this case, he was trying to teach his daughter a lesson.  To wit, “you better not try to embarrass me publicly.  [And, if you do, there will be consequences.]”)  There is a difference.

To “prove a point” means to provide evidence that supports — the arguer hopes conclusively demonstrates or establishes — the logical truth of the arguer’s position.  “This will prove my point,” one might say.  The dad might have been saying to the viewer, “I’ve always said my daughter was immature, and her Facebook post proves my point.”  Yet, the ballistic climax in the video suggests that what the dad was actually doing was trying to make a point.

To “make a point,” in this context, means to “articulate” or “assert” one’s position (sometimes, as here, dramatically).  It often comes up like this:  “Hold on a minute.  Let me make my point.”  Or, “I’m trying to make a point here.”  You might also hear, “Have I made my point?”  Or, “OK, OK.  You’ve made your point.”

Here, the dad “made the point” that “it is wrong for you to try to embarrass me publicly.”

This differs from “to make a point of,” which means to emphasize or highlight something, often as a as a reminder or promise (sometimes to oneself) — almost like a resolution.  “I am going to make a point of exercising more.”  Or, “I am going to make a point of treating my friends better from now on.”

Perhaps it’s a small point; but it merits observation.