when is a door not a door

old brother o'keeffe in my primary school used to pick his nose - violently.
"mccluskey", he would say, "mccluskey - ya have no soul".
i took this to mean that i wasn't very fond of fish, which - truth be told - was true.
and so i never challenged him on this point but merely nodded my head in that understanding manner that seemed to calm him down. he would rest his cane out of his hand on his desk and the moment would pass.
and so the the answer was always and still is "when it's ajar"...