Comments on: Fun With Puns: How Do You Say “Buy That One” In Chinese?

By: Jay

Jay — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 01:16:21 +0000

Humor is about the dissonance created between things / ideas.

When George Carlin told the joke, “I can’t stand people who buy condoms with a Texaco card.” It is about dissonance.

If you understand Mandarin Chinese and English well enough to immediately feel the dissonance between the two meanings and the similarity between the two pronunciations, you might get the joke.

If not, you won’t.

It’s not a terrifically funny joke anyway, so no big loss.

By: Jay

Jay — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:49:15 +0000

Only people who know both English and Mandarin Chinese can even have a chance at understanding the joke,

If you don’t understand both, or don’t understand them well enough that you can immediately feel the cognitive dissonance between the two meanings, you simply won’t feel the joke is funny.

When George Carlin said the joke: “I can’t stand people who buy condoms with an Texaco card” The joke is only funny to people who feel the cognitive dissonance between the two.
Humor lies in between those two disparate ideas clashing.

Also if you are so dead set against anyone using certain words, you simply won’t find it funny.

You may also have no sense of humor, but I hope that’s not the case.

By: bag-o-dicks

bag-o-dicks — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 01:07:12 +0000

Some people still think it’s funny.

For instance, the mentally retarded.

By: bag-o-dicks

bag-o-dicks — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 01:00:24 +0000

But I already think it’s not funny.

And I’m willing to let you explain the joke but frankly I don’t believe you can.

By: Seven

Seven — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 00:22:23 +0000

Are you illuminati?

By: Six

Six — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 23:33:25 +0000

Here is a clue for HarlemSouthTheToughest etc. Creating a paragraph full of what you think is black slang may have been clever in oh lets say about the mid 1990′s, but not in the 21st century.

By: Jonathan Alpart

Jonathan Alpart — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 06:19:01 +0000

OK, let me explain the joke to you.

Oh wait, then it won’t be funny. Yeesh.

By: HarlemSouthTheToughest那个OnTheBlockYo

HarlemSouthTheToughest那个OnTheBlockYo — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 06:08:48 +0000

Word, yo. This is some absolutely crackin’ shit right here. Straight shooting shizzle for dizzle. Was about to sling some lead at this wise ass 妈的法克 but it’s all cool and the gang. I get it. N-word. 9/11 was an inside job. 2013 be the year we ascend to a higher plane. Obama is a reptilian.

By: Tulletilsynet

Tulletilsynet — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 03:45:15 +0000

Yeah, looks pretty much like somebody just wanted to say the n-word and giggle. Beavis & Butthead: The Rejected Episodes.

By: bag-o-dicks

bag-o-dicks — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 02:46:39 +0000

I don’t get it. I mean I understand that “mai neige” sounds like “my nigga” but I don’t see how this is a pun. A pun needs to function on two or more levels to work, this functions on no levels. I mean the Chinese word for “book” sounds like “shoe”. So you could have someone asking for a “shu” accompanying a picture of a book but that would not be funny. At least, it would be no more funny than the characters 那个 accompanying a picture of a black man.