An Italian man wants a job, but the foreman won't hire him until he
passes a little math test. "Here's your first question," the foreman
said.
"Without using numbers, represent the number 9."
"Without numbers?" the Italian says, "Datsa easy." and he proceeds to
draw three trees.
"What's this?" the boss asks.
"Ave you got no brain? Tree and tree and tree makea nine," says the
Italian.
"Fair enough," says the boss. "Here's your second question. Use the
same rules, but this time the number is 99."
The Italian stares into space for a while, then picks up the picture
that he has just drawn and makes a smudge on each tree. "Ere a you go."
The boss scratches his head and says, "How on earth do you get that to
represent 99 ?"
"Ea ch of da trees isa dirty now. So, it's dirty tree, and dirty tree,
and dirty tree. Dat is 99."
The boss is getting worried that he's going to actually have to hi re
this Italian, so he says, "All right, last question. Same rules again,
but represent the number 100."
The Italian stares into space some more, then he picks up the picture
again and makes a little mark at the base of each tree and says, "Ere
you go. One hundred."
The boss looks at the attempt. "You must be nuts if you think that
represents a hundred!"
(You're going to love this one!!!)
The Italian leans forward and points to the marks at the base of each
tree and says, "A little doga came along and crapa by eacha tree. So
now you gota dirty tree and a turd, dirty tree and a turd, and dirty
tree and a turd, datsa makea one hundred. So, when I'm a gonna start?"
