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NeantHumain
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 Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 12:46 pm Post subject: xkcd: Funny or Not? |
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Xkcd describes itself as "[a] webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language." If one browses through enough of the webcomics, there are some funny ones, but overall the vast majority of them just aren't funny at all. I understood the joke intellectually, but they just don't make me laugh. How did this crap get associated with "geek humor" or the kind of humor computer programmers and their ilk might enjoy?
By the way, here's one that's both funny and true. |
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Fuzzy
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| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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Almost always funny.
Do you roll your mouse over the comic for the hidden comments? They often make it even better.
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NeantHumain
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| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 5:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Fuzzy wrote: | Almost always funny.
Do you roll your mouse over the comic for the hidden comments? They often make it even better. |
I didn't know about the alt comments, but they don't help. This guy isn't the comic genius people make him out to be. |
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chever
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| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 5:33 pm Post subject: Re: xkcd: Funny or Not? |
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| NeantHumain wrote: | | How did this crap get associated with "geek humor" or the kind of humor computer programmers and their ilk might enjoy? |
Here are three good reasons
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Fuzzy
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| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 8:43 pm Post subject: |
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I love Lisp/scheme. its the greatest.
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davidred writes...
I installed Ubuntu once and it completely destroyed my paying relationship with Microsoft.
"I spent an interesting evening recently with a grain of salt." -Mark V Shaney
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chever
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| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 9:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Fuzzy wrote: | | I love Lisp/scheme. its the greatest. |
Hm.
I'm going to start a Lisp thread
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NeantHumain
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| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 9:30 pm Post subject: Re: xkcd: Funny or Not? |
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| chever wrote: | | NeantHumain wrote: | | How did this crap get associated with "geek humor" or the kind of humor computer programmers and their ilk might enjoy? |
Here are three good reasons |
Okay, these are software design– and computer science–related jokes, but they're just not funny. To be funny, something must evince laughter. Do these examples evince laughter for you? Merely relating to a subject matter doesn't make something funny.
Do you think this is funny?
I don't, and I just made it. Of course, if it were on xkcd, people would be laughing until their sides ached because somehow stuff that's not funny is funny when it gets a random strong of letters attached to it as the name of the webcomic. |
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twoshots
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| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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Funny maybe half the time (but sometimes complete gold). Any joke involving "romance", not so much...
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chever
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| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:34 pm Post subject: Re: xkcd: Funny or Not? |
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| NeantHumain wrote: | | chever wrote: | | NeantHumain wrote: | | How did this crap get associated with "geek humor" or the kind of humor computer programmers and their ilk might enjoy? |
Here are three good reasons |
Okay, these are software design– and computer science–related jokes, but they're just not funny. To be funny, something must evince laughter. Do these examples evince laughter for you? Merely relating to a subject matter doesn't make something funny.
Do you think this is funny?
I don't, and I just made it. Of course, if it were on xkcd, people would be laughing until their sides ached because somehow stuff that's not funny is funny when it gets a random strong of letters attached to it as the name of the webcomic. |
The secret of humor is pleasant disappointment of expectations.
No one expects a discussion of the algorithmic complexity of the traveling salesman problem to be interrupted by mentioning eBay and "Shut the hell up", which is why people find xkcd humorous.
The thing you drew was just random and so didn't disappoint anyone's expectations, so the comparison is off.
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alex
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| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:47 pm Post subject: |
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| xkcd is great! |
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Orwell
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| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:50 pm Post subject: |
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| alex wrote: | | xkcd is great! |
Seconded.
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Fuzzy
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| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:52 pm Post subject: |
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xkcd got me into dinosaur comics.
NeantHumain, you probably wont get that either, but its even better than xkcd. It also has alt text.
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davidred writes...
I installed Ubuntu once and it completely destroyed my paying relationship with Microsoft.
"I spent an interesting evening recently with a grain of salt." -Mark V Shaney
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Paddy789
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| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:54 pm Post subject: |
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I also think it's unfunny.
In fact, all the webcomics I've seen are crap. |
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NeantHumain
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| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 11:06 pm Post subject: Re: xkcd: Funny or Not? |
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| chever wrote: | The secret of humor is pleasant disappointment of expectations.
No one expects a discussion of the algorithmic complexity of the traveling salesman problem to be interrupted by mentioning eBay and "Shut the hell up", which is why people find xkcd humorous. |
Okay, yes, they took the traveling salesman problem literally with the salesman using eBay, and that's unexpected, but it's still not funny. Here is another violation of expectation:
| Quote: | | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 apple 18 19 20 |
I don't think that's funny. Do you? |
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NeantHumain
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| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 11:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Fuzzy wrote: | | NeantHumain, you probably wont get that either, but its even better than xkcd. It also has alt text. |
Getting the joke, or understanding why someone might think it's funny from an intellectual standpoint, is one thing; thinking it's funny after having gotten the joke is another. There must be a better reason why these webcomics that I, by and large, find incredibly unfunny are so hilarious to others even when they are on subject matter in my profession. |
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