Some people don't understand analogies.
"Ok, so you have a job in a widget factory..." I started in a discussion about manufacturing.
"Wait a minute! What's a widget?" he asked.
"It doesn't matter," I replied. We're talking about how things work. What they actually make is immaterial."
"But I don't know what a widget is," he said, making me realize I was dealing with an idiot. I probably should have simply walked off then and there.
"OK, a widget is a subassembly for a frammis which is a component part of the A-16-4 Dynomoter that is used to power the BC-603 radio receiver used in Sherman tanks," I said. "The government signed an open ended contract for 1000/week in 1943 and they've been making 1000/week ever since because the government worded the contract poorly and has to keep taking them. Every week a truck shows up at a government warehouse and when the warehouse starts getting full they declare them surplus and sell them to the public. Somebody buys them."
"Wait a minute! Who sells them?" he asked.
"The government," I replied. "The same people that sell Jeeps for $50.
"What department is that?" he asked.
"I've been trying to figure that one out for about 60 years so I can buy a Jeep for fifty bucks!"
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