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!”

 

一个名叫斯特兰奇的律师去世了，其友人为其撰写墓志铭如下：“此地长眠着斯特兰奇，一个诚实的人、一个律师。”书写碑文的匠人却认为这样的说法容易引起误会，让人觉得好像有三个人同眠于此地，便提议改正如下：“此地长眠着一个诚实的人，是个律师”这样一来，来往的过客读完碑文肯定会异口同声地惊叫：“怪事儿。”