Saturday, December 22, 2012

Who's this annoying?

Today's "Pearls Before Swine" features a comic trope that has always annoyed me.

answering the question stupidly

In the first place, I think most people would actually answer Pig's question with "It rings the bell", but let that go. Who would simply continue repeating the answer that prompts "so, guess"? Who wouldn't say, "No, I mean it's the part that rings the bell" or "I don't have to guess; I'm telling you it's the part that makes the bell ring"?

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4 Comments:

At 11:33 AM, December 22, 2012 Blogger Barry Leiba had this to say...

I'm afraid I do actually know people who would do that. As an example, I know a man who's married to a non-native English speaker. At dinner one evening, this conversation ensued:

She: Jim, can you pass the salt?
He: Yes. [but he takes no action]
She: [after a pause] Can you pass the salt?
He: Yes.
She: [after another pause] Will you pass the salt?
He: Yes.
Me: [reaches over Jim and passes the #$&@ salt]

He was, of course, waiting for her to phrase it as a command, but was not about to help her figure that out.

Yes, I know a number of people who would do exactly what the comic character did.

 
At 2:01 PM, December 22, 2012 Anonymous Kathie had this to say...

Mightn't all this difficulty have been avoided if only Pig had asked, "...Do you know what the part of a bell called A clapper does?"? [my emphasis] Then the reply, "It rings a bell," works logically, with no shift in article.

The surest way to kill a joke is to analyze it.

 
At 2:08 PM, December 22, 2012 Anonymous Kathie had this to say...

Barry, a guy we knew who in his college days in the early '60s worked as a hasher at a sorority house at the University of Illinois told the story of an exchange dinner the house hosted for the fraternity to which football star Ed O'Bradovich (later of da Bearsss) happened to belong. Ed asked a couple of times for someone to pass the butter, and when it was not forthcoming, he loudly said "Pass the f***ing butter" (sans asterisks). What a prince...

Disclaimer: Husband and his frat bros. weren't like that.

 
At 4:35 PM, December 22, 2012 Blogger The Ridger, FCD had this to say...

Ah, but your friend was deliberately trying to make a point, or teach a lesson or something. Goat was allegedly trying to answer Pig's question with information.

 

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