Can anybody explain Warren Buffett's sentence for me, please?
"The only time to buy these is on a day with no 'y' in it."
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7If this is a riddle, it could be as simple as 'Tomorrow' :)– JonOct 2, 2017 at 14:25
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2Tomorrow is always tomorrow, this could imply "soon" (never).– Casey KuballOct 2, 2017 at 15:09
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2And 'today' does have a y.– stanniusOct 2, 2017 at 16:24
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1Similar to the comment above, the answer is tomorrow, which never comes. So you would always be waiting for an improvement in the poor performance.– RyanOct 2, 2017 at 17:55
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2@Jon But tomorrow never comes.– PharapOct 3, 2017 at 9:06
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1 Answer
Since every day (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday...) ends in "y", this is a time which cannot occur. In other words, the expression "on a day with no 'y' in it' is a way to say "never".
You can also find the opposite "on a day ending with a 'y'" (or similar) to mean something like everyday.
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18There was a similar saying in the UK (before household fridges were common) that some types of food should not be eaten "when there is no R in the month" - i.e. in May, June, July, and August when the temperature (and particularly the overnight temperature) was likely to be high and spoil the food. All the other month names from September through to April do contain the letter R. Oct 2, 2017 at 14:35
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9@alephzero I've lived in the UK all of my life and the only time that I've ever heard of not eating anything when there isn't an 'R' in the month is for oysters and that is nothing to do with refrigeration. Its because oysters are out of season during their breeding season which is basically months without an 'R' in the name. Can you provide a reference?– MD-TechOct 2, 2017 at 15:47
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4The typical usage for the "everyday" variant (in my experience) is "only on days ending in 'y'," with a bit of emphasis on the "only", to highlight the irony. Oct 2, 2017 at 15:47
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3Note that there's a heavy implication of sarcasm in either expression. Oct 2, 2017 at 16:57
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