Tonight I played the party game "Wise and Otherwise" with a group of friends. I had not played the game for a while and it was more fun than I remembered it. My best wise-guy answer was for the setup, "There's an old Polish saying that goes, If they don't answer after three knocks..." My response was, "Steal the welcome mat." Some people said they would have voted for it if I'd gone with my original idea, "Steal the wash off the line," which I rejected for being overly pastoral.

On the other hand, most people guessed my answer for the setup, "There's an old Jamaican saying that goes, If you play with monkey..." For my bluff, I thought of one of the words in the setup and tried to think of the most basic thing associated with that word and the answer came to me. One of these is my bluff and the other is the answer:

"If you play with monkey, don't play with his tail."

"If you play with monkey, play with his friends."

Most people guessed mine and I guessed the right one. I felt really proud, as someone who makes playfulness his business, that I got the most points on this one and I got it right coming and going.

Now which one do you think is real? According to the makers of the game, anyhow. They could all be made up.