Don't Paint Your Canary!

Jim strolls into the paint section of his local hardware store. Bob is the assistant on the floor that day. "Can I help you?" Bob asks.

"Yes. I'd like a pint of canary-colored paint," replies Jim.

"Certainly," says Bob, fetching the small can. "Painting some trim?"

"Nope. I'm going to paint my parakeet."

"What? Why would you do that?"

"I want to enter him into a canary singing contest. He sings so sweetly, I'm sure he'd win!" Jim exclaims.

"Well, you can't do that," says Bob. "Besides the fact it's cheating, the chemicals in the paint will kill the poor bird."

"Nah, they won't," Jim replies.

"Listen, buddy, I'll bet you ten bucks your parakeet dies if you try to paint it."

"You're on!" says Jim as he pays for his paint and strides out of the store.

Two days later Jim returns, looking very sheepish, and puts a ten-dollar bill on the counter in front of Bob.

"So the paint killed your parakeet?" Bob inquires.

"Well, indirectly," replies Jim. "He seemed to handle the paint okay, but he didn't survive the sanding between coats."