“I SOLD MY FARM TO BUY MY CROWN.”

“I SOLD MY FARM TO BUY MY CROWN.” Swamy Subramanian’s twitter post reminds me of another answer by an economist that shows that “an abstruse answer turneth away wrath.” When I was in college, Professor Meyer Burstein got into a long exchange of letters with a student in the Daily Northwestern. The student’s letters got longer and angrier, and he finally wrote a letter accusing Burstein of being rude. Burstein replied, quoting Henry V, “I sold my farm to buy my crown.” He told one of his classes that that would end the exchange, and it did.