Designer: Jen Troyer

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Have you ever gotten angry at somebody preemptively, because you thought they might get angry at you? This perverse but all-too-human predicament is called "borrowing a jack." The phrase comes from a shaggy-dog story the comic-actor Danny Thomas told on his TV show in the 1950s. A traveler had a flat tire while driving in the country, and discovered he didn't have a jack. Spotting a farmhouse a mile off, he started walking toward it, so he could borrow a jack and change his tire. But as he walked, he convinced himself that the farmer wouldn't trust him, would think he was a con man and would refuse his request. By the time the traveler got to the house, he was so offended that when the farmer came to the door, he shouted at him, "You can keep your dang jack!" and stomped off. The moral of this one is, have a little faith.