7 ms·

In Soviet Russia, domain name never dies.

by egberts 6y ago

dane-pgp 6y ago
I think that should be: In Soviet Russia, top level authority expires you!
dkjaudyeqooe 6y ago
In Soviet Russia, domains name you!
- mkoryak 6y ago
  I am russian, and while I understand why these types of jokes exist, I never understood why they are "jokes". Are they actually funny? Was the first one funny but then people kept making more which aren't funny? Why is it a joke to use sentence structure from another language? Also, OPs post was actually clever, which can't be said of 99% of these things
  - t0astbread 6y ago
    It's one of those things, I think, where the individual jokes aren't meant to be funny but rather the fact that they're all terrible yet people keep telling them is the real joke. Similar to Chuck Norris jokes. As for the foreign language part, it's probably meant to lean into stereotypes about Russian English speakers to emphasize the "trashiness" of the joke. You could have an ethical discussion about that.
  - dane-pgp 6y ago
    The first ones were definitely funny, and the format was popularized as part of a successful stand-up comedy routine by Yakov Smirnoff, although he wasn't the first to use it.[0] Because the template can be filled with a wide variety of specific nouns and verbs, it has become a bit of a snowclone[1] or a meme in its own right[2], like the "Xzibit Yo Dawg" meme[3]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Soviet_Russia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Soviet_Russia [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclone [2] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/in-soviet-russia https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/in-soviet-russia [3] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/xzibit-yo-dawg https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/xzibit-yo-dawg
  - deathanatos 6y ago
    Someone linked you to the Wikipedia article, and I just want to quote this bit of it: > and the inverted Soviet form something menacing or dysfunctional, satirizing life under a communist dictatorship A proper use of the "In Soviet Russia" meme isn't just reversing the words to make it sound like "Russian"; it' supposed to also suddenly construct a sentence that implies something dystopian. (And ideally, somewhat humorously, usually contextually so.) I think the right ones are generally only at "sensible chuckle" level — you're not going to die laughing usually. I don't think the one above really fits the template though.
  - eitland 6y ago
    In case it helps, here's one about Norwegians: - American guy goes to the dentist and says "do it fast!" - German guy goes to the dentist and says "do it well!" - Norwegian guy goes to the dentist and says "does it hurt?" It is a thing in some cultures. Norwegians poke fun at the Swedes (and ourselves), Englishmen make jokes about the Irish and probably the other way around too. I hope we can agree that it is OK also in the future. I don't want the world to be too dull.
  - dkjaudyeqooe 6y ago
    Funny is definitely subjective. I can see how you might not find this funny given your personal sensitivities. Also there may be cultural differences at play or you may have a different view of communist or totalitarian states than people in the West. This is true not only for jokes but for pretty much every good idea. More often these are just a reference to something that is (was) funny, like movie reference or quote. I don't know why you think this references language structure (see next point). OP may have been clever (or not), but in my reply I sought to assert the canonical form where you take 'A <verb> B' and write 'In Soviet Russia B <verb> A'.
    - mkoryak 6y ago
      I had thought that maybe this type of a joke plays on the fact that russian allows for flexibility in the sentence structure, which if you were to translate word for word, would yield the joke. http://masterrussian.com/aa060500a.shtml http://masterrussian.com/aa060500a.shtml
  - jhbadger 6y ago
    The original jokes (by Soviet emigre to the US, comedian Yakov Smirnoff) were clever (e.g. "In America, you can always find a party. In Soviet Russia, Party always finds you!"). But many copies of these jokes just do the word reversal without the wordplay.

In Soviet Russia, domain name never dies.

dane-pgp 6y ago

I think that should be: In Soviet Russia, top level authority expires you!

dkjaudyeqooe 6y ago

In Soviet Russia, domains name you!

mkoryak 6y ago
I am russian, and while I understand why these types of jokes exist, I never understood why they are "jokes". Are they actually funny? Was the first one funny but then people kept making more which aren't funny? Why is it a joke to use sentence structure from another language? Also, OPs post was actually clever, which can't be said of 99% of these things
- t0astbread 6y ago
  It's one of those things, I think, where the individual jokes aren't meant to be funny but rather the fact that they're all terrible yet people keep telling them is the real joke. Similar to Chuck Norris jokes. As for the foreign language part, it's probably meant to lean into stereotypes about Russian English speakers to emphasize the "trashiness" of the joke. You could have an ethical discussion about that.
- dane-pgp 6y ago
  The first ones were definitely funny, and the format was popularized as part of a successful stand-up comedy routine by Yakov Smirnoff, although he wasn't the first to use it.[0] Because the template can be filled with a wide variety of specific nouns and verbs, it has become a bit of a snowclone[1] or a meme in its own right[2], like the "Xzibit Yo Dawg" meme[3]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Soviet_Russia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Soviet_Russia [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclone [2] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/in-soviet-russia https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/in-soviet-russia [3] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/xzibit-yo-dawg https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/xzibit-yo-dawg
- deathanatos 6y ago
  Someone linked you to the Wikipedia article, and I just want to quote this bit of it: > and the inverted Soviet form something menacing or dysfunctional, satirizing life under a communist dictatorship A proper use of the "In Soviet Russia" meme isn't just reversing the words to make it sound like "Russian"; it' supposed to also suddenly construct a sentence that implies something dystopian. (And ideally, somewhat humorously, usually contextually so.) I think the right ones are generally only at "sensible chuckle" level — you're not going to die laughing usually. I don't think the one above really fits the template though.
- eitland 6y ago
  In case it helps, here's one about Norwegians: - American guy goes to the dentist and says "do it fast!" - German guy goes to the dentist and says "do it well!" - Norwegian guy goes to the dentist and says "does it hurt?" It is a thing in some cultures. Norwegians poke fun at the Swedes (and ourselves), Englishmen make jokes about the Irish and probably the other way around too. I hope we can agree that it is OK also in the future. I don't want the world to be too dull.
- dkjaudyeqooe 6y ago
  Funny is definitely subjective. I can see how you might not find this funny given your personal sensitivities. Also there may be cultural differences at play or you may have a different view of communist or totalitarian states than people in the West. This is true not only for jokes but for pretty much every good idea. More often these are just a reference to something that is (was) funny, like movie reference or quote. I don't know why you think this references language structure (see next point). OP may have been clever (or not), but in my reply I sought to assert the canonical form where you take 'A <verb> B' and write 'In Soviet Russia B <verb> A'.
  - mkoryak 6y ago
    I had thought that maybe this type of a joke plays on the fact that russian allows for flexibility in the sentence structure, which if you were to translate word for word, would yield the joke. http://masterrussian.com/aa060500a.shtml http://masterrussian.com/aa060500a.shtml
- jhbadger 6y ago
  The original jokes (by Soviet emigre to the US, comedian Yakov Smirnoff) were clever (e.g. "In America, you can always find a party. In Soviet Russia, Party always finds you!"). But many copies of these jokes just do the word reversal without the wordplay.