In Charles Barsotti’s drawing, a large bag of money relaxes on a tropical island with a drink in one hand and a cellphone in the other. He’s wearing sunglasses, smiling, and saying something into the phone.
My first idea—“Money talking”—completely ignored the setting, and the setting’s always important.
Tropical resorts like the Cayman Islands are well-known tax havens, and therefore perfect destinations for bags of money. That was the inspiration for these three captions:
- “It’s an offshore tax haven.”
- “The beach is gorgeous, but what I really love are the low taxation rates.”
- “I’m staying on tax shelter island.”
That last line may be a little too close to this cartoon by J. B. Handelsman:
Because the disgustingly rich can be surprisingly cheap, I came up with this caption: “I got an incredible deal on the hotel.”
Finally, I put a spin on a common expression about money: “It’s very expensive, but I’m made of money.”
Now let’s see how you did.
As I mentioned in a previous posting, Barsotti is perhaps best known for his drawing of a piece of pasta talking on the phone and saying, “Fusilli, you crazy bastard! How are you?” Several of you made a reference to that caption by submitting entries similar to this: “Bitcoin, you crazy bastard! How are you?”
Like I did, many of you made a joke about offshore tax havens:
- “I found the States to be too taxing.”
- “Taxes? Never heard of him.”
- “Believe me, this is so much better than Switzerland.”
- “Come down for the sun. Stay for the tax evasion.”
Those are all good, but the third caption would be better without the words “believe me” and the fourth could do without the word “down.” Make sure every word in your caption serves a purpose. If it doesn’t, get rid of it.
Here are a few captions I enjoyed but, like my first caption, they ignore the all-important tropical setting:
- “What am I, made of money?”
- “Hello, money talking.”
- “I voted for him because I’m rich, what’s your excuse?”
That’s not an issue with the last six captions:
- “I was losing interest at work.”
- “I’m spent.”
- “You should see all the topless Euros.”
- “I’m going to deposit myself at the bar.”
- “I met a woman on the cruise, but we were different denominations.”
- “Oh, you know, just strolling the beach and collecting shell companies.”
I really like the tax haven angle, and I’m having a hard time choosing between these two entries:
- “I found the States to be too taxing.”
- “Taxes? Never heard of him.”
I’m declaring #1 the winner because it addresses the fact that the bag of money is on vacation.