Study: Female Funny Bone More Analytical

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Matt Gregory
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Post by Matt Gregory » Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:49 pm

Kevin wrote:
Kierkegaard's says:

"A woman's reflection usually goes like this: if she has won on one point or another, she is so overcome herself that she cannot avoid gazing at her victory - and then she stumbles.
Creepy quote! That happens to me quite often.

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David Quinn
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Post by David Quinn » Sun Nov 13, 2005 10:25 pm

Matt,
avidaloca: "Black holes are where God divided by zero".

I know that David Quinn doesn't find this funny, but I think it is. It would be interesting to get a sample of opinions.

Matt: I can see the humor in it, but I didn't laugh when I read it.
Can you describe the humour that you see in it?

In my view, the quip is too incoherent to contain humour of any interest. All Steven Wright has done is collect a scientific concept, a religious concept and mathematical concept and mash them together indiscriminately. He doesn't attempt to articulate an intelligible relationship between them, so the only possible comical element is the sheer contrast of having these three concepts from different disciplines pitted together. It's a bit like opening your computer box and mysteriously seeing a banana inside, except that Wright's quip is far less surprising and interesting.


-

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Matt Gregory
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Post by Matt Gregory » Sun Nov 13, 2005 10:48 pm

I guess it's the thought of God meticulously going about creating the universe, making a mistake, going "Oops!" and blowing right by it.

I think you must be trying too hard!
Last edited by Matt Gregory on Sun Nov 13, 2005 11:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Kevin Solway
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Post by Kevin Solway » Sun Nov 13, 2005 10:51 pm

DavidQuinn000 wrote:
Essentially what I'm saying is that women live in the moment much more fully than men . . .


I think the opposite is true. Because men's minds are more single-minded and focused, they are able to consciously enter the moment, and experience its joys, whenever it suits them - or at least, gifted men can do this. Women's minds, on the other hand, are so dominated by insecurities and anxious concerns that they very rarely experience the moment at all. This is why it often said that women are the "practical sex", while men are the dreamers.
Perhaps we can say that women are so much "in" the moment, that they are unable to experience it. They are part of that "Merged Vod" that Sim speaks of, and caught up in the tackiness of it.

Men have intellectual distance, so can experience the moment - in clarity, and in its context.

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Humour

Post by sevens » Sun Nov 13, 2005 11:03 pm

Yeah.

I remember in school when my teacher wouldn't explain why you couldn't divide by zero.

So, then God does it, and -- bam! -- blackhole.

:)
Last edited by sevens on Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:54 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Kevin Solway
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Post by Kevin Solway » Sun Nov 13, 2005 11:09 pm

"Black holes are where God divided by zero".


It can work in a number of ways:

1. Poking fun at religion:

If God is so loving, then why did he create black holes, the colour of the devil, which indiscriminately destroy whole star systems and galaxies, creeping up on things unseen? Did he make a mistake while doing the maths?

2. Poking fun at science:

A while back, scientists were claiming that the gravity at the centre of a black hole would be so great that nothing would be able to withstand it, so matter would compress inwards, infinitely, with nothing to stop it.

It seems unlikely to me that such a phenomena can be so neatly explained by such a simple mathematical idea.

Both ideas are funny, but not very so.

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Matt Gregory
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Re: Humour

Post by Matt Gregory » Sun Nov 13, 2005 11:17 pm

sevens wrote:The relationship between your own humour and Steven's is quite similar :)
They both deal in abstraction, and cause the audience to laugh at their own creative mind. It brings a sense of relief, through the intellect and the heart.
No Steven, Steven Wright's whole gag is that he's a vegetable. He tries to think but he doesn't get it. Isn't that the guy with the catatonic stage presence?

Edit: Well, I guess he's not like that very often...

"I spilled spot remover on my dog and now he's gone."

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Post by avidaloca » Mon Nov 14, 2005 1:26 am

Or...

"I was working in a hardware store in Seattle, Washington and a guy came in and asked: "If I melt dry ice, can I swim without getting wet"?"

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David Quinn
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Post by David Quinn » Mon Nov 14, 2005 7:35 am

Occasionally, Steven Wright is capable of a bit of depth:

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All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand.

Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.

Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire.

A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met.

OK, so what's the speed of dark?

If God dropped acid, would he see people?

-

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Waking Life

Post by sevens » Mon Nov 14, 2005 8:08 am

"Sweep me up..."

- Kierkegaard's Last Words

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Kevin Solway
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Post by Kevin Solway » Mon Nov 14, 2005 10:06 am

It looks like all sorts of one-liners are now being attributed to Steven Wright.

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Matt Gregory
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Post by Matt Gregory » Mon Nov 14, 2005 10:42 am

Talk about an easy living. That guy's got it made.

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