Some definitions explained by Ambrose Bierce.1
- COMMERCE, n.
- A kind of transaction in which A plunders from B the goods of C, and for compensation B picks the pocket of D of money belonging to E.
- FUTURE, n.
- That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured.
- PIRACY, n.
- Commerce without its folly-swaddles, just as God made it.
- PRESENT, n.
- That part of eternity dividing the domain of disappointment from the realm of hope.
- PRICE, n.
- Value, plus a reasonable sum for the wear and tear of conscience in demanding it.