Topic : Clarity
Yogi Berra
Yogi Berra, Hall of Fame catcher and former New York Yankees manager, was the champion of muddled conversation. Here are a few of his ambiguous statements:
- On a hot day in St. Petersburg, Florida, a spring training observer told Yogi, “Good afternoon, Mr. Berra. My, you look mighty cool today.” “Thank you, ma’am,” Yogi replied. “You don’t look so hot yourself.”
- “We lost because we made too many wrong mistakes.”
- “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.”
- “Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical.”
- “You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.”
- A worker asked for a pay raise and got this note back from his supervisor:
- “Because of the fluctuation predisposition of your position’s productive capacity as juxtaposed to standard norms, it would be momentarily injudicious to advocate your requested increment.”
- The puzzled worker went to the supervisor and said, “If this is about my pay raise, I don’t get it.”
- “That’s right,” said the supervisor.
Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder, was a Roman writer who lived during the same time period as Jesus. He told a story of the setting of an obelisk, which when erect would stand 99 feet tall. Twenty thousand workers where chosen to pull on the ropes and activate the hoisting apparatus. There was great responsibility and risk in the operation. Just one error could cause the obelisk to fall, ruining years of work.
The King demanded one act which insured the complete attention and best direction of the engineer. He ordered the engineer’s own son to be strapped to the apex of the obelisk, so that his heart as well as his head would be given to the task.
The Fall Guy
“The undersigned (hereinafter called ‘Guarantor’) for and in consideration of the sum of Ten Dollars ($10.00) and other good and valuable considerations in hand paid to the Guarantor, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, and to induce (bank name) a national banking association with offices and banking quarters at (address), (hereinafter called ‘Bank’), at its option, at any time or from time to time to loan monies, with or without security to or for the account of (customer’s name) (hereinafter called ‘Borrower’), and at the special insistence and request of Bank, Guarantor hereby unconditionally guarantees the prompt payment at maturity of the following (hereinafter called the ‘Indebtedness’):”
What does it mean? If you sign this, you’re the fall guy if the borrower defaults.
