We are four against the masses. We are trying to find the one who is the whole package. We sigh, we laugh, we frown while we hope that the next one will be the one. Who are we?
I move quickly with hurried steps,
If my hand is forced I can sink ships,
I’ll cause you to shudder when driving your car,
And haul your fuel to where you are,
I’ll watch you bleed from a cut,
Add a rear and I’ll tell you what’s what.
Scuttle. To scuttle is to scurry or run hurriedly. Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of your own ship. Scuttle shake is felt in convertibles where the passengers feel a distinct shudder. A coal scuttle is a bucket-like container to haul coal. A shaving scuttle holds hot water when you’re shaving. And adding a “rear” forms scuttlebutt, or rumors and gossip.
Two scruffy dogs were walking down the street. The first dog turned to the other and said, “Do you realize that if one of your fleas jumped onto me we would have the same number of fleas?” The second replied, “Yes, but if one of your fleas jumped onto me I would have five times as many fleas as you.” How many fleas are on each dog to begin with?
Early one morning Hal, the owner of a hardware store, sells a mailbox for $25 to Courtney that cost him $20 wholesale. Courtney pays with a $100 bill and Hal discovers he doesn’t have enough change. He runs to the jewelry shop next door, where Jack, the owner, gives him change in exchange for the $100. Later that afternoon, Jack discovers the $100 bill is a counterfeit and Hal pays him $100 to make it right.
The total loss was $95.
-$20 = The wholesale cost of the mailbox
$100 = The money from Jack
-$75 = The change paid to Courtney
-$100 = To pay Jack back
-$20 + $100 – $75 – $100 = -$95
It’s easy to think Hal lost $195 but that fails to account for the $100 used to make the change, which came from Jack, not Hal. Jack paid $100 in exchange for a worthless piece of paper, so the $100 was initially Jack’s loss. Hal had made a $5 profit until Jack’s discovery. If you guessed $100, that’s arguably correct, but not making $5 in profit isn’t a loss in the strictest sense of the word.