system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why is the food pipe located so close to the windpipe, as food entering the wind pipe can be lethal?

The gullet opening (food tube) is very close to the trachea (breathing tube). This positioning is a little risky, because if not for a small lid called epiglottis, the food may enter end up in the wrong place, i.e. the wind pipe. And this can be lethal. 

So, does the wind pipe being so close to the food pipe help in any way?
gpt
>The gullet opening (food tube) is very close to the trachea (breathing tube). This positioning is a little risky, because if not for a small lid called epiglottis, the food may enter end up in the wrong place, i.e. the wind pipe. And this can be lethal. 
>
>So, does the wind pipe being so close to the food pipe help in any way? 

The ability to speak, that is too enunciate precisely enough to actually form words, depends upon the direction of vocalizations over the tongue and out of the mouth through the lips. 

Other species besides *homo sapiens* have tracheas that intersect with the esophagus farther from the mouth. This helps protect them from choking on food, but it also means that their vocalizations are limited to mainly a series of barks, yips, and growls; scarcely the stuff of intellectual discourse. 

TL;DR- Because the risk of choking is worth the ability to speak.