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Fire Escape Partners
3465 25th Street, Suite 17
San Francisco, CA 94110 | (transitive verb)
[FLUM-ahks] 
1. to confuse or perplex somebody: "Our mechanic quickly read through a list of obscure parts to flummox us, repeated 'plus labor' several times, and handed us an invoice for six hundred dollars."
Origin:
Approximately 1837; exact origin unknown. In action:
"Eldar Shafir, who teaches psychology and public affairs at Princeton, began with a behavioral economics primer. It was full of the anomalies the field is known for, including the popular '6 jam-vs.-24 jam' experiment. In an upscale grocery story, researchers set up a tasting booth first with 6 jars of jams, and later with 24 jars. In the first case, 40 percent of the customers stopped to taste and 30 percent bought; in the second, 60 percent tasted but only 3 percent bought. The point is that too many options can flummox a consumer -- and if 24 jars of jam pose a problem, imagine what 8,000 mutual funds can do. Standard economics would argue that people are better off with more options. But behavioral economics argues that people behave less like mathematical models than like -- well, people.
Among the behaviorists, there is the common sentiment that economics has been ruined by math. 'Neoclassical economists came along in the mid-19th century and wanted to mathematize the new science of economics,' said George Loewenstein, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. 'They couldn't include `the passions,' or emotions, in their models, because they were too unruly, too complex. But they also thought that the emotions were unknowable.'"
Stephen J. Dubner. "Calculating the Irrational in Economics," The New York Times (June 28, 2003).
"This is a column about dogs riding in baby strollers.
Yes, it's a Boca Raton story.
People who don't live in Boca or have a reason to spend much time there are sometimes shocked by seeing what goes on. So take this as a gentle warning.
Don't stare. Don't let your jaw drop. If you find yourself in Boca and you see some astounding bit of public behavior, just carry on as if you hadn't noticed it at all. Trust me, it's better that way.
You don't want to end up like Muriel MacFarlane of Boynton Beach, who contacted me in a state of flummox, looking for answers to questions that defy a reasonable response.
'I know you live in Boca so I expect you have a rational explanation for this,' the Boynton woman said."
Frank Cerabino. "Baby strollers go to dogs in Boca," Palm Beach Post (July 18, 2003).
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