When Your Numbers are Questionable
Sometimes things are just inherently funny.
I’ve seen more than a few interviews with comedians and writers where they discuss spending an hour coming up with a funny number to use in a gag. (In my opinion, 17 is always good. Not too big, not too small, not even, and it’s prime to boot!)
So when listening to the business report on the radio I heard “drowning in red ink,” I started thinking of funny colors to use similarly. After twenty or so minutes “taupe” was the clear winner.
“Taupe” for me is one of those just plain funny things. It’s such a specific, classy sounding word for a hue that’s basically bland and colorless.
Also it sounds funny, and that helps.
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About the Author: Mark Anderson’s cartoons appear in publications including The Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review. Anderson is the creator of the popular cartoon website, Andertoons.com, where he licenses his cartoons for presentations, newsletters and other projects. He blogs at Andertoons cartoon blog.
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Well I’d be happy to see some taupe — these days there is a lot of red out there! Great humor Mark! thanks.
nice post really interesting
Thanks for sharing
Learning a new word… taupe!
In small business the numbers are almost always questionable. If the business owner happens to get the principles right, they seem to get the timing of receopts and payments wrong.
Best way I’ve found out to get this right is to look at the numbers based on a questionnaire.