 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsEnglish UsageBritish EnglishESL Teaching Learnglish.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Discussion Groups / English Usage / June 2009What makes it funny?
Let me ask you a question about the following cartoon. http://www.halfthedeck.com/html/Messy-Bull.html What looks like a cow is saying, "Actually dear, I was raised in a barn." What is the point of making you feel funny with this expression? I couldn't get its point. Cartoons's humour are often rooted in culture, so those without its cultural background have hard time feeling the same way. Quoth Masa <autosu@infoseek.jp>, and I quote: >Let me ask you a question about the following cartoon. >http://www.halfthedeck.com/html/Messy-Bull.html [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >cultural background have hard time >feeling the same way. If someone comes into a room and leaves the door open, it is common to ask a sarcastic question like "Were you born in a barn (or a field)?" As you see from the cartoon, the door is wide open, and cows tend to be raised in barns (in America at least).  SignatureJames > If someone comes into a room and leaves the door open, it is common to > ask a sarcastic question like "Were you born in a barn (or a field)?" Which is why the word 'was' is underlined for emphasis. >Quoth Masa <autosu@infoseek.jp>, and I quote: > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >As you see from the cartoon, the door is wide open, and cows tend >to be raised in barns (in America at least). The word "was" is underlined to indicate stress. We are expected to guess the standard sarcastic question that the woman has just asked: "Were you raised in a barn?". The answer is then "Actually dear, I *was* raised in a barn". SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) BrE filted: >>If someone comes into a room and leaves the door open, it is >>common to ask a sarcastic question like "Were you born in a barn [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > >The answer is then "Actually dear, I *was* raised in a barn". First time I ever got a laugh from my niece was with the following: Joseph comes to his carpentry shop and finds the door standing open...he calls angrily to his son "Jesus Christ, were you *born* in a barn?"... A cartoon of mine that makes similar use of an unstated cliche: http://members.cox.net/dadoctah/cartoons/tastelike.jpg ....r SignatureA pessimist sees the glass as half empty. An optometrist asks whether you see the glass more full like this?...or like this? > BrE filted: [...] >> We are expected to guess the standard sarcastic question that the >> woman has just asked: "Were you raised in a barn?". [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > open...he calls angrily to his son "Jesus Christ, were you *born* in > a barn?"... Even more pointed in the British version: the insular form of the challenge is "Were you born in a stable?" > A cartoon of mine that makes similar use of an unstated cliche: > > http://members.cox.net/dadoctah/cartoons/tastelike.jpg I remember it well...m It's not funny. I give it a 5 out of 10. Bob G filted: >It's not funny. I give it a 5 out of 10. That's 5 better than I give Google Groups, which makes it impossible to tell what it is that you don't find funny....r SignatureA pessimist sees the glass as half empty. An optometrist asks whether you see the glass more full like this?...or like this? > A cartoon of mine that makes similar use of an unstated cliche: > > http://members.cox.net/dadoctah/cartoons/tastelike.jpg Chickens are relatively recent (about 500 BC, much later in many parts of the world). I wonder what new animals *did* taste like before people were familiar with them. Interestingly, the Food Network show _Food Detectives_ investigated whether there was any truth to the notion that some animals taste like chicken. They gave two panels of judges (one made up of interns working on the show and one made up of professional chefs) four dishes made from alligator, rabbit, frog, and guinea pig, and asked them to identify the meat. IIRC, overwhelmingly, the interns guessed "chicken" for all of the dishes, and the chefs were split between identifying them as chicken and rabbit. I think maybe one of the chefs got the frog correct and nobody got the alligator or guinea pig. (To the embarassment of one of the chefs, who grew up in Peru, where guinea pig, called "cui" is a common dish.) SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |This isn't good. I've seen good, 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |and it didn't look anything like Palo Alto, CA 94304 |this. | MST3K kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com (650)857-7572 http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ Evan Kirshenbaum set the following eddies spiralling through the space-time continuum: > Interestingly, the Food Network show _Food Detectives_ investigated > whether there was any truth to the notion that some animals taste like [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > (To the embarassment of one of the chefs, who grew up in Peru, where > guinea pig, called "cui" is a common dish.) That's because the various meats all taste of E-numbers, antioxidants, preservatives, permitted artificial colours and flavourings, and monosodium glutamate. Signatureξ:) Proud to be curly Interchange the alphabetic letter groups to reply > Evan Kirshenbaum set the following eddies spiralling through the space-time > continuum: [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > preservatives, permitted artificial colours and flavourings, and monosodium > glutamate. You think the world's supply of free-range guinea pigs has been contaminated from the water supply? SignatureI worry that 10 or 15 years from now, [my daughter] will come to me and say 'Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press away from the Internet?' [Mike Godwin, EFF http://www.eff.org/ ] |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2012 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.