It’s Friday, nobody’s in the mood for anything deep, so here is a joke that I came up with for use in the delightfully increasing number of contexts in which I am in the company of intellectuals, policymakers and important people, and it becomes necessary to explain what I am doing there.
The Freemasons make a distinction between “operative” and “speculative” masonry. An “operative mason” is one who cuts stone and builds things with it. A “speculative mason”, however, is one who considers the principles and practices of operative masonry, using them as a metaphorical framework in order to develop spiritual and ethical insight.
Consequently, I would consider myself to be a “speculative accountant”.
Like Susannah Clarke's theoretical and practical magicians!
Heh, this really goes well with your blog’s theme of taking jokes literally. That is exactly what you’re doing!