A riddle about “net profits” is:
Q: What kind of money do fishermen make?
A: Net profits.
The “net profits” pun has been popular since at least 1988 and 1989.
Wikipedia: Net profit
Net profit, also referred to as the bottom line, net income, or net earnings is a measure of the profitability of a venture after accounting for all costs and taxes. It is the actual profit, and includes the operating expenses that are excluded from gross profit.
25 August 1933, Wausau (WI) Daily Record-Herald, pg. 8, col. 6:
Today’s Composition
Subject: Nets
(...)
Fishermen make their nets profits from using nets—maybe that’s why it is called net profits.
Google Books
You Don’t Look Like a Minister:
But You Sure Do Sing Like One
By Paul Corcoran
Lima, OH: CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
1988
Pg. 21:
There was Peter’s “Fishermen make net profits,” Noah’s “Think snow,” and Jonah’s “You can’t keep a good man down.”
Google Books
Mariners Weather Log
Volumes 32-33
1989
Pg. 34:
Marine Humor Corner
What kind of money do fishermen make? Net Profits.
28 December 1993, Chicago (IL) Tribune, Kidnews, sec. 7, pg. 11, left masthead:
What kind of money do fishermen make?
Net profits.
Google Books
Khushwant Singh’s Big Fat Joke Book
By Khushwant Singh
New Delhi, India; New York, NY: Penguin Books in association with Vision Books
2000
Pg. 240:
What kind of profits do fishermen make?
Net profits.
Google Books
Noah’s Favorite Animal Jokes
By Compiled by Barbour Staff
Urichsville, OH: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
2003
Pg. ?:
What kind of money do fishermen make?
Net profits.
20 December 2007, Sunday Territorian (Darwin, Australia), “Jokes,” pg. 28:
WHAT KIND OF MONEY DO FISHERMEN MAKE? Net profits.
Twitter
Bollywood Sargam
@bollywoodsargam
Fishing jokes - 4930 Joke: What kind of money do fishermen make ? Net profits ! .... http://tinyurl.com/pbxdol
1:27 AM - 6 Jul 2009
Twitter
lorraine Jo King
@LahLahBean
#badjokefriday
What kind of money do fishermen make?
Net profits!
12:13 AM - 20 Jul 2018
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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