A lawyer named Strange died, and his friend asked the tombstone maker to inscribe on this tombstone,“Here lies Strange, an honest man, and a lawyer.”

The inscriber insisted that such an inscription would be to confusing, for passers-by would tend to think that three men were buried under the stone. However, he suggested an alternative: he would inscribe.“Here lies a man who was both honest and a lawyer.”That way. Whenever anyone walked by the tombstone and read it, they would be certain to remark:“That’s strange!”

 

一個名叫斯特蘭奇的律師去世了，其友人為其撰寫墓志銘如下：“此地長眠著斯特蘭奇，一個誠實的人、一個律師。”書寫碑文的匠人卻認(rèn)為這樣的說法容易引起誤會，讓人覺得好像有三個人同眠于此地，便提議改正如下：“此地長眠著一個誠實的人，是個律師”這樣一來，來往的過客讀完碑文肯定會異口同聲地驚叫：“怪事兒。”