The last time I had to think in pithy, free-standing sentences was back in 1995, when Mad Magazine allowed me to write the “marginals” for issue #337. “Marginals,” for those of you haven’t read the magazine in a while, are gags that run in the inner or outer margins of the main articles. They are usually printed in a tiny two-point typeface, because Mad’s original publisher, William F. Gaines, owned stock in a magnifying glass company. The theme of my marginals for issue 337 was “Questions from the Edge.” So they had to be in the form of questions. Here are a few examples: |
If a baker's dozen is thirteen,
Is a politician's dozen eleven?
I wrote that when I was somewhat less worldly.
I now know a politician's dozen is two.