JOHN PAUL JONES OR YET ANOTHER “FISHY” HISTORY LESSON

Seems like Captain Jones, an avid fisherman, aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard along with his crew, had entered an international fishing tournament and was not faring well. Things got rather heated in the midst of the tourney. The British team, being really poor sports, began to make fun of the John Paul Jones crew and called them a bunch of little girly losers and that they should just drop their purses and give up because they knew nothing about fishing. As it turns out, this was not a wise statement for men in tights with red three cornered hats. At this point, Captain John Paul Jones uttered his now famous words “I have not yet begun to fish!” Although badly outnumbered and in a heavily damaged ship, Captain Jones’s team did finally pull it off, and soundly defeated Captain Pearson and the crew of the Serapis with the heaviest stringer.

When being presented with the trophy, he did say later off the record “Even though we were outnumbered and low on bait, I wasn’t about to lose that six pieces of eight and keg of rum entry fee!” In other news, a man named Charlie, (I think he was an area local) was an avid fisherman. He did more fishing than working, so when Charlie unexpectedly passed away he didn’t leave much for his wife, except for some fishing equipment, which included a boat. Charlie’s wife wanted to put in a proper obituary, but had very little cash. She asked the local paper how much an obituary, plus a for sale ad would cost. When she realized that she couldn’t afford both, she kept it to the bare minimum and simply put in “Charlie’s dead, boat for sale.

Thought for the day: It is totally acceptable to tell someone “Have a nice day” But if it was phrased “Enjoy your next 24 hours” somehow that’s threatening.