"Are you on your period or something?" and other sexist remarks

[Jersey Girl]

Fabulous. Now I have to figure out who Robert Kirby is.

Former columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, I think.

Oh thanks.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

....pretending everything is normal despite the explosions.

A feeble swing and a HUGE miss.

I like to think of Moksha as our poor man’s Dennis Miller. Moksha, when you allusion-drop a reference without any deep level of familiarity with the joke it falls flat, and I’ll tell you why.

The comedic relief, you in this instance and about a thousand other times, wants to sound sophisticated by name-dropping or reference-dropping an obscure term that is tangentially related to the topic at hand. This is clearly a desire by you, the comic, to make the audience feel dumb, and you smart, thus warranting of our validation of your smartness. You’re not assuming knowledge on our part. You’re assuming our ignorance where we’re forced to figure out your passive genius in order to make sense of your references. It’s basically smarmy facetiousness, because to tell the joke simply without all the smarter-than-thou pageantry is to reveal that there’s no joke to tell. Here’s the formula - perhaps a DCP-esque attempt at wowing us:

1) Click “Random Article” on Wikipedia

2) Take out your dusty copy of the Mad Libs

3) Shoehorn it into the thread

4) Sit back and feel amazed at your brilliance

You’re a comic who hardly ever constructs a single joke that’s suited to the audience, in this case a forum where the commonality is Mormonism. The joke if it were, say, linked to Russell M. Nelson talking over Sherry Dew because she synched her menstrual cycle with Wendy Nelson, and he can’t handle dOuBlE tHe tROuBlE, might at least make sense, even if it’s in poor taste or diminishes a competent and accomplished woman’s insight or perspective on this forum.

But, hey, Vietnam. Because that makes sense.

- Doc

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Fabulous. Now I have to figure out who Robert Kirby is.

Sorry about that, I should’ve explained the question, because I just complained about obscure references. Heh.

edit: Robert Kirby was a folksy jokesy columnist who liked to poke and prod the LDS and Mormon-dominated state government. His humor is a carbon copy of Moksha’s, except Robert Kirby was mostly self-referential in his narcissism. But I swear in reading Moksha’s folksy jokesy joking around the syntax and constructs are the same, hence my question.

- Doc

[canpakes]

Why should women be saddled with the responsibility of teaching grown men to be decent humans?

Indeed, why? And yet it could be argued that women have been tasked with that for millennia.

[Res Ipsa]

I like to think of Moksha as our poor man’s Dennis Miller. Moksha, when you allusion-drop a reference without any deep level of familiarity with the joke it falls flat, and I’ll tell you why.

The comedic relief, you in this instance and about a thousand other times, wants to sound sophisticated by name-dropping or reference-dropping an obscure term that is tangentially related to the topic at hand. This is clearly a desire by you, the comic, to make the audience feel dumb, and you smart, thus warranting of our validation of your smartness. You’re not assuming knowledge on our part. You’re assuming our ignorance where we’re forced to figure out your passive genius in order to make sense of your references. It’s basically smarmy facetiousness, because to tell the joke simply without all the smarter-than-thou pageantry is to reveal that there’s no joke to tell. Here’s the formula - perhaps a DCP-esque attempt at wowing us:

1) Click “Random Article” on Wikipedia

2) Take out your dusty copy of the Mad Libs

3) Shoehorn it into the thread

4) Sit back and feel amazed at your brilliance

You’re a comic who hardly ever constructs a single joke that’s suited to the audience, in this case a forum where the commonality is Mormonism. The joke if it were, say, linked to Russell M. Nelson talking over Sherry Dew because she synched her menstrual cycle with Wendy Nelson, and he can’t handle dOuBlE tHe tROuBlE, might at least make sense, even if it’s in poor taste or diminishes a competent and accomplished woman’s insight or perspective on this forum.

But, hey, Vietnam. Because that makes sense.

- Doc

Man, humor is a funny thing. I enjoy Moksha's humor largely because it is, at times, a little off kilter. Why Vietnam is easily understandable, but I'm showing my age. I think Moksha may have been ironically suggesting we go back to pretending everything is normal when we are cruising through a minefield. And, at least for folks of my age, Haiphong Harbor is well known for the fact that the US mined it. There may be other geographical locations that evoke a minefield, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. If Moksha is of my age or older, no random wiki flipping is required. It's a clever, and understandable, metaphor.

Yeah, humor. I file it under "brains are weird."

[Res Ipsa]

Why should women be saddled with the responsibility of teaching grown men to be decent humans?

Indeed, why? And yet it could be argued that women have been tasked with that for millennia.

Indeed.

[Chap]

I enjoy Moksha's humor largely

Me too.

And penguins are a protected species. Let's not forget that?

by the way, is there really anything left to say on this thread that has not already been said? Of course, I am always ready to be surprised.

[Res Ipsa]

I enjoy Moksha's humor largely

Me too.

And penguins are a protected species. Let's not forget that?

by the way, is there really anything left to say on this thread that has not already been said? Of course, I am always ready to be surprised.

Good point on the protected species!

Probably not, but I lurves me a good dead horse beating!

[Bret Ripley]

Man, humor is a funny thing. I enjoy Moksha's humor largely because it is, at times, a little off kilter. Why Vietnam is easily understandable, but I'm showing my age. I think Moksha may have been ironically suggesting we go back to pretending everything is normal when we are cruising through a minefield. And, at least for folks of my age, Haiphong Harbor is well known for the fact that the US mined it. There may be other geographical locations that evoke a minefield, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. If Moksha is of my age or older, no random wiki flipping is required. It's a clever, and understandable, metaphor.

for what it's worth: this was my reaction, as well.

As for making references that some may find obscure: I do that sort of thing all the time, and the notion that it is an attempt to make someone feel dumb is frankly kind of appalling. I look at it this way: people come to the table with different sets of experiences/interests and some things will simply resonate more with some folks than others; humor is no exception. Whether or not Haiphong Harbor is a readily accessible reference has nothing to do with intelligence, and since (imho) Dr. Cam has a long history of demonstrating that he is most certainly not lacking in the intelligence department I am tempted to slap a QED on that narrow point.

OTOH -- I saw a bumper-sticker a while back that read "Bob Moog Died For Your Synths." Should I have done the world a favor by rear-ending the elitist bastard?

[Res Ipsa]