What's the term for this kind of humor?

Aug 17, 2006, 4:46 PM ET50 posts by 13 posters
50 posts
R Flowers

This came up in conversation with a co-worker. I thought I would post the question here, since it seems to happen on The Simpsons fairly often.

What is the term for the kind of humor where the joke is that someone is trying to stop, or is surprised by, a perfectly logical outcome of a set of circumstances? Since I can't put the question very well, here is an example from 'The Simpsons.'

In "The Seven-Beer Snitch," Otto switches his urine for Homer's. Mr. Burns reads through the list of substances found in the sample, ending with "...and traces of -gasp- human urine!" Well, duh - we would expect to find urine in a urine sample. I suppose it's funnier because the drugs seem to be in majority.

If it's not irony, not sarcasm, not understatement... what is it? If it doesn't have a name, I say we give it one.

-- R Flowers

SparkoHeaps↩ R Flowers

You could call it an "incongruity", but ironically, "irony" is a better word for it.

harry.michaels↩ SparkoHeaps

[email] wrote:

I think it's just plain stupidity. After racking my brains for a particular similar scene, I remembered this from "Homer the Vigilante" [1F09]:

 Homer: Hello, Police?  Are you sitting down?  Good!  I wish to report
a
        robbery.
Wiggum: [bored] A robbery, right.  Thanks for the report.  [hangs up]
        That's _another_ one, Lou...723 Evergreen Terrace.
         [Looks at a map with the robbery locations marked on it]
        Well, there doesn't seem to be any pattern yet, but if I take
        this one and move it here...and I move these over here...hello!
        It _almost_ looks like an arrow!
   Lou: Hey, look, Chief: it's pointing right at this police station.
Wiggum: [Terrified] Let's get out of here!
-- Deduction at its finest, "Homer the Vigilante"

One of the show's all-time funniest gags IMHO.

Harry Michaels

Herb Kauhry↩ Aaron Hirshberg

Not as delicious as eating mayonaise.

wrote in message news:[email]... > But, ironing is delicious! >
Xino Kiner↩ Herb Kauhry

Ughh... are you serious? Mayonnaise is disgusting, also it is fattening. It should be avoided in my opinion. I really believe at least that it never deserves the qualifier "delicious".

XINO

Matt Garvey↩ Xino Kiner

Xino Kiner wrote:

That wasn't *your* mayonnaise, was it?

MATT

Xino Kiner↩ Matt Garvey

"Matt Garvey" wrote in message news:[email]...

fattening.

never

Of course it was. I DON'T steal people's food except for my older brother's, and even then I would never take his mayo since I hate mayo. He pretty much eats it by the gallon, BTW, he puts it on anything.

XINO

Herb Kauhry↩ Xino Kiner

"That's great, honey. I'm gonna eat mayonnaise." Homer, "Make Room for Lisa"

Walter Traprock↩ Xino Kiner

"Xino Kiner" wrote:

Mayonnaise needs bacon, or cheese, or sausage, eggs, bread, pork chops, baked liverwurst toast, hot pockets with pepperoni, pizza with red onion, hot italian sausage, meatballs, extra pepperoni, with splashes of tobasco, i think i'm getting hungry.here.

Xino Kiner↩ Sparky Spartacus

"Sparky Spartacus"

Do you seriously need a definition? Alright then.

The word "fattening" comes from the transitive verb "fatten" which means "to make fat". "Fattening" is a participle: an adjective formed from a verb. In my previous post, I used the participle "fattening" to modify the noun "mayonnaise", since mayonnaise is an agent by which objects are fattened.

Let me know if you need more help.

XINO, AKA Linguo

*Ninja*↩ Xino Kiner

"Xino Kiner" wrote in message news:[email]...

<snipped>

Can you please do my linguistics assignment for me, Xino?

Sparky Spartacus↩ Xino Kiner

In the context in which you used it, of course.

How very pedantic of you.

So you're totally wrong - a serving of mayo (Hellman's) is 100 calories/tbps. How much will a person be "fattened" if they consume 0.1 tbsp of mayo/week?

*Ninja*↩ Sparky Spartacus

"Sparky Spartacus" wrote in message news:gm8Kg.401$[email]...

That's Xino for you. I'd just like to add that there are plenty of nice 99% fat free mayonaises (is that a word?) on the market, and if you use this to moisten your bread instead of butter, when making say, a chicken salad sandwich for example, then you are actually lowering the fat content of the sandwich. So there Kiner. I don't consider mayonaise fattening at all. Unless you eat it by the jar full. Shame on you.

Xino Kiner↩ *Ninja*

See??!! There we go again with the smart-ass comments.

SEEEEEEEE??!!

*Ninja*↩ Xino Kiner

"Xino Kiner" wrote in message news:[email]...

More of an inference based on an observation actually...

What? You WERE being pedantic. You often are. Don't worry - we still like you ;-)

Xino Kiner↩ *Ninja*

Uhhh.... that was actually a reference, Wilson.

*Ninja*↩ Xino Kiner

"Xino Kiner" wrote in message news:[email]...

No it was an inference. It was the conclusion I drew based on the observation I made. Inference. Look it up.

Or are you referring to a reference to OFF that you made? In which case I dropped the ball. Sorry.

R Flowers↩ *Ninja*

"*Ninja*" wrote in message news:kM9Kg.21727$[email]...

Is there any other way, really?

-- R Flowers

*Ninja*↩ R Flowers

"R Flowers" wrote in message news:[email]...

Well......you could upsize to a bucket I guess...

R Flowers↩ *Ninja*

"*Ninja*" wrote in message news:vCQKg.22961$[email]...

Just like that movie theater mayonnaise!

Me: "Eighteen dollars for a bucket of mayonnaise?!" Clerk: "Um, well, you get free refills..."

-- R Flowers

*Ninja*↩ R Flowers

"R Flowers" wrote in message news:[email]...

Woo-Hoo! I'll take 3!

Xino Kiner↩ Sparky Spartacus

"Sparky Spartacus"

Are you serious? First of all, nobody that regularly eats mayo (that I know) consumes 1/10 of a serving per week. LET'S JUST PRESUME THAT THEY DID for a moment.. according to my calculations, those people would add about 0.15 pounds per year than if they had not eaten the mayo. Not too bad.

NOW LET'S CONSIDER A TYPICAL mayo consumer.. such as my brother who eats (by my guess) at least 1.5 tablespoons 3.5 times per week... this man adds 7.8 pounds per year that he would not otherwise have... which in MY opinion makes mayo extremely fattening. You're much better off eating an apple EVERY DAY than having mayo 3.5 times a WEEK.

What does this have to do with the simpsons? Somebody quick post a simpsons reference to mayo.

XINO

*Ninja*↩ Xino Kiner

"Xino Kiner" wrote in message news:[email]...

simpsons

"We need more special sauce - leave that bucket of mayonaise out in the sun......"

Sparky Spartacus↩ Xino Kiner

QED

No, and the 0.1 tbps was just a number plucked from thin air to illustrate a point, by no means an estimate of what the "typical mayo consumer" (whoever that might be) consumes. I seldom eat mayo, so I might average 0.1 or 0.25 tbsp/week.

By what standard is your brother "typical"?

Nope, what's "fattening" is the extra 525 cal/week. People gain weight because they consume more calories than they burn, not because certain foods are "fattening". If your bro's total intake, including mayo, were 1,500 cal/day, he'd probably lose weight and if he consumed 3,000 cal/day inc. an apple, he'd probably gain weight. (I don't know, of course, how active your bro is)

Xino Kiner↩ Sparky Spartacus

Are you just playing games from me?

As I said, MY standard.

Of course!!! What's the problem? My point is that 525 is more fattening than 400 calories from apples. Since mayo has no real other health benefits (that I'm aware of) then all it is good for is adding calories, and thus it is fattening.

Yes, I am aware of that. I never said that they did.

I agree with all that. What's the problem.

Uhhh.. I think his daily caloric intake is more likely in the 3000-4000 range. He weighs close to 300 but I'm not sure about that and he won't say. He's definitely NOT active.

He kinda reminds me of CBG, he has no use for a "medium" size belt. I can damn near get his belt around my waist TWICE!

Sparky Spartacus↩ Xino Kiner

But 400 calories of mayo are *not* more "fattening" than 400 of apples. Conversely, 525 calories of apples *are* more "fattening" than 400 from mayo. Let's try to keep the apples & mayo straight, okay?

EOT

*Ninja*↩ Sparky Spartacus

"Sparky Spartacus" wrote in message news:XktLg.2427$[email]...

Which weighs more: A tonne of apples or a tonne of bricks?

Xino Kiner↩ Sparky Spartacus

"Sparky Spartacus"

When the hell did I say that 400 calories of mayo are more "fattening" than 400 of apples?

Alright I m ready to just drop it, but PLEASE don't put words into my mouth, especially words of idiocy.

XINO

*Ninja*↩ Xino Kiner

"Xino Kiner" wrote in message news:[email]...

mouth,

How about some Mayonaise?

Sparky Spartacus↩ Xino Kiner

HUH? This whole business started because you insisted that mayo is "fattening".

Consider it dropped.

Captain Infinity↩ Xino Kiner

Once Upon A Time Xino Kiner wrote:

It also adds flavor, moistness, texture. Those are good things. Why does everything need to have "health benefits"?

** Captain Infinity

R Flowers↩ Captain Infinity

I would just like to say, I am proud how far this thread has strayed from the original source.

And that's *not* sarcasm.

-- R Flowers

*Ninja*↩ Captain Infinity

"Captain Infinity" wrote in message news:[email]...

My point exactly - you can substitute it for butter/margerine if you are making a big sandwich. And in that case, it is a HEALTHIER option. Especially since you can get 99% fat free mayo. I've said this before.

Mmmm.....big sandwich.

sbrothy↩ R Flowers

Its called *humor*. Every joke has that as its base. The end-point being obviously simple and on par with the story leading to the *pun* which is funny. Hence the joke. Youre searching for a word for the "in-your-face, I told you so, humor". There is no such word, the pun being bleeding obvious!

R Flowers↩ sbrothy

wrote in message news:[email]...

Well, duh! :)

It's not a pun. A pun is a play on words. Like when a guy gets his foot caught in a discarded Springy the Springfield Spring (TM), trips and falls, we might say "He had too much spring in his step!"

There may be no such word, but I fail to see the pun in my example.

-- R Flowers

sbrothy↩ R Flowers

Well, sorry. I made the cardinal error: not reading the entire thread before I posted. I'm just a little nonplussed that someone would dare to put a name on *humor*. In hindsight it was arrogant. I apologise. The best humor is no subject to classification. Thats the job of humor: to think outside of the box....

sbrothy↩ sbrothy

Dont have a cow man!

That which we call sarcasm is only a minor part in the puzzle we call humor. To name the joke is killing it..... just my 2 cents...

;-)

[email] wrote:

R Flowers↩ sbrothy

wrote in message news:[email]...

That certainly wasn't my intention. I didn't mean to start Humor Studies 101, or become... some kind of... Professional Humor... Guy.

Thanks for your input.

-- R Flowers

sbrothy↩ R Flowers

Well, Humor 101 is what we're having. Like it or not. My English may seem ... [those things you walk on when you feel really really physically elevated.... stilts.. stilty...?]. btw... Have you heard S17E17? ;-)

*Ninja*↩ sbrothy

wrote in message news:[email]...

Worst. Rebuttal. Ever.

*Ninja*↩ sbrothy

wrote in message news:[email]...

Isn't that slapstick humour? I could be wrong. I often am :-)

"'Umour, I was using 'umour." (Kath & Kim - Americans will not understand this quote - nevermind. Look it up on Wiki)

*Ninja*↩ sbrothy

wrote in message news:[email]...

Yup :-) But funny idiots.