At a Hollywood party the guests were playing a game which required each one to write an epitaph for himself. A much married actress was sitting next to Robert Benchley* and complained that she did not know what to write for herself. Benchley said, "I'll write it for you." He did so, and passed on her slip with his to be read out. The epitaph when read was, "At last she sleeps alone."
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George Ade, an American writer born in 1866, was fond of telling the following story: "I was sitting with a little girl of eight one afternoon. She looked up from the copy of Hans Andersen she was reading, and asked innocently, 'Does m-i-r-a-g-e spell marriage, Mr Ade?' 'Yes, my child,' said I."
好萊塢有一次聚會，會上玩「給自己寫墓誌銘」遊戲。一個多次結婚的女演員坐在羅伯特．本奇利*身旁，說不知道怎麼寫。本奇利說：「我代你寫吧。」他寫好，就把她的紙條和自己的一起傳出去，待一一宣讀。那女演員的墓誌銘宣讀如下：「伊人終獨眠。」
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喬治．埃德是美國作家，一八六六年出世。他常常講一個故事：「一天下午，我和一個八歲女孩坐在一起。她在讀安徒生童話，忽然擡起頭，一臉天真，問道：『埃德先生，m-i-r-a-g-e（海市蜃樓）是不是讀作marriage（婚姻）？』我說：『不錯，孩子。』」
*本奇利是十九世紀美國報紙專欄作家及電影明星。