From the "You Can't Make This Stuff Up" Department

My B-2/3 (better two-thirds) pointed out to me this little wire service story that appeared in this morning's Times-Picayune. Notice anything particularly hilarious about it? Hint: look at the print highlighted in RED:

With hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work and the economy in a nosedive, the U.S. peanut industry expected sales to soar this year.

Americans tend to turn to peanut products to stretch their food dollars in tough times, avoiding more expensive protein sources such as steak and ground beef.

Enter an ongoing salmonella outbreak that has sickened some 600 people in 43 states and been linked to nine deaths, and those rosy predictions after a record growing season have been dashed.

"They've tainted our entire industry," said Shelly Nutt, executive director of the peanut producers board in Texas, the nation's second largest growing state behind Georgia. "Public perception is killing us."

We both got some good belly laughs out of that one. My B-2/3 and I got the "Nutt" part, but it was my 10-year-old who added to our mirth by pointing out that the "Shelly" part worked nicely into the joke as well. After all, what is a peanut if not a "Shelly Nutt"!