The other night I stopped at the gas station to fill up (my van is a thirsty creature). Normally I just lock the nozzle on and let it run until it stops, and then gently add some more until it comes to a whole number of dollars.
I’m probably not alone in this.
On Thursday, though, it shut off and I read the value. Just a little over $80, too bad it didn’t stop a few cents light, rather than eight cents over.
Then the number registered.
Surely I’m not the only one who would have decided that was a good enough number and stopped.
Later, I told my wife about this.
Me: “It came to 80.08, and I stopped.”
Wife: “Of course you did, it’s such a pretty number!”
Me: “And spells a word for a pretty thing.”
Wife: “I meant it’s symmetrical!”
Me: “Huh. The plural word is not symmetrical, but what the plural word identifies are, or are close enough.”
Wife: “Baka” some more Japanese… and laughter
Me: “See? You would have stopped too.”
Wife: “… yeah, I would have.”
I have long held that nobody gets past about age fourteen for some types of humor. I have yet to find a strong counterexample.