Two sisters, one blonde and one brunette, inherit their family ranch. After a few years, they run into financial trouble and need to buy a bull to breed their own stock to save the ranch. They only have $600 left.
The brunette heads to a distant stockyard to purchase a bull and, after inspecting it, decides to buy it for $599. With just $1 remaining, she goes to the nearest town to send her sister a telegram, instructing her to drive out and haul the bull home.
The telegraph operator informs her that sending a telegram costs 99 cents per word.
Faced with only $1 left, she realizes she can only afford to send one word. After some thought, she decides on the word “comfortable.”
The operator is puzzled. “How will your sister know that you want her to hitch the trailer and come get the bull with just the word ‘comfortable’?”

The brunette explains, “My sister’s blonde. The word is long and she’ll read it slowly—com-for-da-bull.”
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