oh, I'll admit that painting is *clever.

in teaching, of course, we use the word "select" extensively: select, then open; select, then delete; select, then copy; etc. and how, exactly, does one select something?

with the mouse, you depress (click) and hold the left mouse button, and drag the mouse, causing the text background you drag across to turn blue and the corresponding text to turn white. this (you explain) is just like using a highlighter on a book or newspaper. you might even demonstrate this with the typical yellow marker.

I suggest that "painting" is a poor analogy, as paint would cover everything -- text and background. the last thing you prolly want to do in teaching technical things to non-technical folks is confuse things by brushing with broad strokes.