Just when You Thought that Idiotic Concept was Finally Played Out ...

... some fool comes up with another "meme". This one's inspired by a post at Troppo Armadillo, which reminded me of a story about Voltaire, which I found somewhere in my copy of Ambrose Bierce's The Devils Dictionary.

It seems that Voltaire and a few friends were staying overnight at a country inn one night, during a long coach trip. To while away the time they decided to tell each other stories; it was agreed that each of them would tell a story about a robber.

When Voltaire's turn came, he said "Once, there was a fermier-generale of the taxes."

His audience pressed him to continue.

"That, my friends," he said, "is the story."

Which leads to the simple idea that I'm hoping to send running like wildfire through the blogosphere. Take a word like "robber", "murderer" and produce a Voltairean short story on the topic. No need to tell anyone what the word is; let your readers figure it out for themselves. They enjoy being treated as intelligent people from time to time; it makes them feel respected.

I think I've told you enough to convey the general idea. Here's my story:

Once, there was a Defence Minister with a defective mobile phone.

To save time, I think I'll just tag everybody and have done with it.