xkcd: Funny or Not?

Page 1 of 3 [ 34 posts ] Go to page 1, 2, 3 Next

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,837
Location: St. Louis, Missouri

23 Aug 2008, 11:46 am

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.

Fuzzy
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Age: 53
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,223
Location: Alberta Canada

23 Aug 2008, 2:34 pm

Almost always funny.

Do you roll your mouse over the comic for the hidden comments? They often make it even better.

_________________
davidred wrote...
I installed Ubuntu once and it completely destroyed my paying relationship with Microsoft.

NeantHumain
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,837
Location: St. Louis, Missouri

23 Aug 2008, 4:00 pm

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.

chever
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 21 Aug 2008
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,291
Location: Earth

23 Aug 2008, 4:33 pm

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

_________________
"You can take me, but you cannot take my bunghole! For I have no bunghole! I am the Great Cornholio!"

Fuzzy
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Age: 53
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,223
Location: Alberta Canada

23 Aug 2008, 7:43 pm

I love Lisp/scheme. its the greatest.

_________________
davidred wrote...
I installed Ubuntu once and it completely destroyed my paying relationship with Microsoft.

chever
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 21 Aug 2008
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,291
Location: Earth

23 Aug 2008, 8:11 pm

Fuzzy wrote:

I love Lisp/scheme. its the greatest.

Hm.

I'm going to start a Lisp thread

_________________
"You can take me, but you cannot take my bunghole! For I have no bunghole! I am the Great Cornholio!"

NeantHumain
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,837
Location: St. Louis, Missouri

23 Aug 2008, 8:30 pm

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.

twoshots
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,731
Location: Boötes void

23 Aug 2008, 9:09 pm

Funny maybe half the time (but sometimes complete gold). Any joke involving "romance", not so much...

_________________
* here for the nachos.

chever
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 21 Aug 2008
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,291
Location: Earth

23 Aug 2008, 9:34 pm

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

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.

_________________
"You can take me, but you cannot take my bunghole! For I have no bunghole! I am the Great Cornholio!"

alex
Developer

Joined: 13 Jun 2004
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 10,224
Location: Beverly Hills, CA

23 Aug 2008, 9:47 pm

xkcd is great!

_________________
I'm Alex Plank, the founder of Wrong Planet. Follow me (Alex Plank) on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/alexplank.bsky.social

Orwell
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 8 Aug 2007
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 12,518
Location: Room 101

23 Aug 2008, 9:50 pm

alex wrote:

xkcd is great!

Seconded.

_________________
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

Fuzzy
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Age: 53
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,223
Location: Alberta Canada

23 Aug 2008, 9:52 pm

xkcd got me into dinosaur comics.

NeantHumain, you probably wont get that either, but its even better than xkcd. It also has alt text.

_________________
davidred wrote...
I installed Ubuntu once and it completely destroyed my paying relationship with Microsoft.

Paddy789
Sea Gull

Joined: 12 Aug 2008
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 222

23 Aug 2008, 9:54 pm

I also think it's unfunny.

In fact, all the webcomics I've seen are crap.

NeantHumain
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,837
Location: St. Louis, Missouri

23 Aug 2008, 10:06 pm

chever wrote:

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?

NeantHumain
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,837
Location: St. Louis, Missouri

23 Aug 2008, 10:08 pm

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.

chever
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 21 Aug 2008
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,291
Location: Earth

23 Aug 2008, 10:25 pm

Different tastes?

NeantHumain wrote:

chever wrote:

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?

It might be funny depending on context.

Throw some comment about the Haskell type inferencing system in there and you're set.

_________________
"You can take me, but you cannot take my bunghole! For I have no bunghole! I am the Great Cornholio!"

Page 1 of 3 [ 34 posts ] Go to page 1, 2, 3 Next

Jump to:

xkcd: Funny or Not? Post Reply New Topic

xkcd: Funny or Not?