One little quibble - you describe there being a US version and a UK version of The Office. As an Englishman I'd point out that (according to wise old Wikipedia, at least) the US version is "based on" the UK version and "adapted for US television". Without informing your readers that one of these things is a sort of "copy" or "imitation" of the other, they might come to the erroneous conclusion that they appeared simultaneously in the world, with neither being more original than the other.
I'd never insult my brilliant and well-informed (and good-looking, so good looking) readers by implying they could ever make such a mistake. But out of an abundance of caution, I added an "original". 👍
Really old jokes ..... substitute the word "blonde" or "moron" (neither politically correct) for "pedant" and -- while still lame -- will make more sense to us as humorous.
To get this one - A pedant having purchased a stolen amphora covered it with pitch in order that it might not be recognized -- you have to know that an amphora was valuable and beautiful and that pitch would ruin it, thus voiding the value paid for it.
Aha! You're saying that the pitch would react with the amphora somehow, and be impossible to remove? I did indeed not know that. (Though I'm not sure if it would put that joke in a different category...)
Pitch is a resin, like tar. In this context, the pitch would discolor, obscure the original - hiding the evidence of being stolen - but marring the original and decreasing its value.
Love this post. I laughed at many of these, and I couldn’t tell if they were operating on the level of “can you believe people thought this was funny” or if there were genuinely funny. Perhaps a bit of both.
As an alternate explanation for why so many of these jokes are bad: have you ever looked at a modern-day book of jokes? The vast majority of them are just awful. I don't think "here's a book full of unrelated one-off jokes" has ever been a recipe for real humor.
An enjoyable read as always.
One little quibble - you describe there being a US version and a UK version of The Office. As an Englishman I'd point out that (according to wise old Wikipedia, at least) the US version is "based on" the UK version and "adapted for US television". Without informing your readers that one of these things is a sort of "copy" or "imitation" of the other, they might come to the erroneous conclusion that they appeared simultaneously in the world, with neither being more original than the other.
A pedant left a comment on a blog post…
I'd never insult my brilliant and well-informed (and good-looking, so good looking) readers by implying they could ever make such a mistake. But out of an abundance of caution, I added an "original". 👍
No wonder you attract such good-looking readers. Not just an elegant, thoughtful writer, but indulgent of your audience, too!
Really old jokes ..... substitute the word "blonde" or "moron" (neither politically correct) for "pedant" and -- while still lame -- will make more sense to us as humorous.
To get this one - A pedant having purchased a stolen amphora covered it with pitch in order that it might not be recognized -- you have to know that an amphora was valuable and beautiful and that pitch would ruin it, thus voiding the value paid for it.
Aha! You're saying that the pitch would react with the amphora somehow, and be impossible to remove? I did indeed not know that. (Though I'm not sure if it would put that joke in a different category...)
Pitch is a resin, like tar. In this context, the pitch would discolor, obscure the original - hiding the evidence of being stolen - but marring the original and decreasing its value.
Love this post. I laughed at many of these, and I couldn’t tell if they were operating on the level of “can you believe people thought this was funny” or if there were genuinely funny. Perhaps a bit of both.
The last one is an ancient version of Roko's Basilisk.
As an alternate explanation for why so many of these jokes are bad: have you ever looked at a modern-day book of jokes? The vast majority of them are just awful. I don't think "here's a book full of unrelated one-off jokes" has ever been a recipe for real humor.