Two sisters, one blonde and one brunette, inherit the family ranch. Unfortunately, after just a few years, they are in financial trouble and need to purchase a bull so that they can breed their own stock. The brunette tells her sister that she is going to a certain ranch where there is a bull for sale and that if she decides to buy it, she will contact her sister so that she can drive there to haul the bull back.

The brunette arrives at the ranch, likes the looks of the bull and buys it for $599. After paying for him, she drives to the nearest town to send her sister a telegram to tell her the news. She walks into the telegraph office and says, “I want to send a telegram to my sister telling her that I’ve bought a bull for our ranch and that I need her to hitch the trailer to our pickup truck and drive out here so that we can haul it home.”

The telegraph operator tells her that he will be glad to help and that it only costs 99 cents per word. Unfortunately the brunette only has one dollar left after paying for the bull, which means she can only send her sister a single word.

After thinking for a moment, she tells the operator to send a telegram with the single word “Comfortable.” The operator shakes his head and asks, “How is she ever going to know that you want her to hitch the trailer to your pickup truck and drive out here to haul the back to your ranch if you send her just the word “Comfortable”?

The brunette explains, “My sister’s a blonde. The word’s big. She’ll read it slow — Com-for-da-bul.”