An accountant and a computer programmer are seated next to each other on a long train trip. The computer programmer says to the accountant, "Since we're in for a long trip, how about playing a game to pass the time. I'll ask you a trivia question. If you answer correctly I'll pay you $10. If you can't answer correctly you pay me $10. Then we take turns asking questions. How about it?"
The accountant, sensing that the programmer was the arrogant type, declined. But the programmer persisted. "OK, since I'm obviously smarter than you, I'll give you 10 to 1 odds. I'll pay you $100 whenever you win, but you only have to pay me $10 whenever I win." The accountant, not wanting to argue anymore, agreed.
"OK," said the programmer, "I'll go first. What do the letters CPU stand for?" The accountant immediately hands the programmer $10. Smiling, the programmer takes the $10 and says, "CPU stands for Central Processing Unit. OK, now ask me a question."
The accountant says, "Alright, what animal goes up a mountain on four legs and comes down the mountain on three legs?" While the programmer thinks about this, the accountant leans back and goes to sleep. The programmer pulls out his laptop computer, searches through a dozen CD-ROMs, AOL, and the internet looking for the answer. After two hours of searching the programmer taps the accountant on the shoulder and says, "OK, I give up. Here's your $100."
The accountant pockets the $100 and rolls over to go back to sleep. The programmer then says, "Hey wait a minute. What's the answer to your question?" The accountant then turns and hands the programmer $10. |
