Article View: uchi.wanted
Article #64Re: Seeking "There are ? kinds..." Phrases
From: Steffan O'Sullivan
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1993 21:19
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1993 21:19
34 lines
2882 bytes
2882 bytes
In this thread, I first read the joke: "There are three kinds of people
in this world: those who can count, and those who can't."
I thought this was pretty funny so I started telling it to folks. I
was amazed to find that very few people got it - and I'm a good joke
teller. Perhaps it's more of a written joke - one of those that is
hard to get if spoken. I did find that more folks got it if I used
fingers to mark off the different types - first one finger, then three
fingers.
But I was curious about how many folks would get the joke, and I wanted
to sort the responses. So I started telling it to *everybody*, and
tallying responses. I quit after about 80 folks - I began to think it
less funny myself at that point.
I found that there are four kinds of responses to this joke:
Those who get it, and laugh. Only about 20% of the listeners fall into
this category.
Those who never get that it's a joke. They keep asking, "and what's
the third type?" When I explain it's a joke, most of these folks still
don't get it, and get irritated. Even when I try to explain it, they
don't get it. Bummer.
Those who don't notice anything wrong with what I just said! "What's
your point?" they ask, or, "So?" I guess they fall into the third
category mentioned in the joke: they can't count.
--
-Steffan O'Sullivan | Two step program to a more productive
| life (which you may not want, BTW):
sos@oz.plymouth.edu | 1) Don't watch tv.
| 2) Don't play computer games.
Technical Details
Message-ID:
<1993Jul18.211912.14560@oz.plymouth.edu>Path:
arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!gmd.de!xlink.net!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!noc.near.net!oz.plymouth.edu!sosShow Full Headers
Complete Article Headers
X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f66d0,8f65572e4f771102 X-Google-Attributes: gidf66d0,public X-Google-Thread: f512a,8f65572e4f771102 X-Google-Attributes: gidf512a,public X-Google-Thread: f5a54,8f65572e4f771102 X-Google-Attributes: gidf5a54,public X-Google-Thread: fec13,8f65572e4f771102 X-Google-Attributes: gidfec13,public X-Google-Thread: 150c31,8f65572e4f771102 X-Google-Attributes: gid150c31,public X-Google-Thread: 1051ef,8f65572e4f771102 X-Google-Attributes: gid1051ef,public X-Google-Thread: 1138b4,8f65572e4f771102 X-Google-Attributes: gid1138b4,public X-Google-Thread: 105111,8f65572e4f771102 X-Google-Attributes: gid105111,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1993-07-18 14:31:20 PST Newsgroups: uchi.wanted,chi.wanted,sci.anthropology,rec.arts.poems,rec.arts.misc,rec.arts.prose,rec.humor,rec.humor.d,soc.history,soc.men,soc.misc,misc.wanted,misc.writing,talk.bizarre Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!gmd.de!xlink.net!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!noc.near.net!oz.plymouth.edu!sos From: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan) Subject: Re: Seeking "There are ? kinds..." Phrases Message-ID: <1993Jul18.211912.14560@oz.plymouth.edu> Organization: Plymouth State College - Plymouth, NH. Distribution: usa Date: Sun, 18 Jul 93 21:19:12 GMT Lines: 34