One day, a man went to a fish shop to buy some fish for his dinner. He picked up a fresh fish, examined it carefully, then held it up to his nose.
"Hey! What are you doing?" cried the shopkeeper. "Why are you smelling that fish? Do you think it's bad?"
"No," answered the man.
"Then why is your face so close to it?" asked the shopkeeper.
"I wasn't smelling it," said the man. "I was only talking to it."
"Talking to it!" exclaimed the shopkeeper. "What on earth did you say?"
"I asked it if there was any news," replied the man.
"Well, what did the fish say?" asked the shopkeeper.
"It said it didn't know the latest news, because it had been away from the sea for more than three weeks."