Fishing & cheating
Jul
05
I found this quote in a wonderful book called 3 men in a boat. The book was written in 1889 by Jerome K. Jerome, and interestingly it does not seem that much has changed since then.
I knew a young man once, he was a most conscientious fellow and, when he took to fly-fishing, he determined never to exaggerate his hauls by more than twenty-five percent.
“When I have caught forty fish,” said he, “then I will tell people that I have caught fifty, and so on. But I will not lie any more than that, because it is sinful to lie.”
good!
Three men in a boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) is a great book. And other authors have used it as an inspiration. An example is Connie Willis and her book To Say Nothing of the Dog – also a great read.
There is also a similar story in China: Two soldiers on the war field were scared by the strong enemies, so they turned around and ran away. One ran 50 steps and the other ran 100 steps. The one ran 50 steps laughted at the one who ran 100 steps: How timid you are!
The chinese version of this line:
“When I have caught forty fish,” said he, “then I will tell people that I have caught two hundred and forty, and so on. But I will not lie any more than that, or maybe just little bit more.”
I’ve only finished listening to your book tonight, on a long car trip, and am therefore full of questions that I’m going to pester you with here. Yes, people often inflate the value of lost or stolen possessions they’re reporting to insurance companies. But how do you know they’re not inflating the total because they suspect they won’t be fully reimbursed for the actual original value of the item? (Not saying that’s not cheating–but it’s a different motivation than you discuss in the book.)