4 ms·

Why is it certain that this is a joke and not some kind of wisdom, charm or unknown literary category?

by singularity2001 5y ago

spywaregorilla 5y ago
For starters, it looks, and quacks, like a joke
- hoseja 5y ago
  That's because it had a very convoluted plastic surgery to make it so.
blamazon 5y ago
Because it starts with "A dog walks into a bar"
- muzani 5y ago
  There's a similar koan with a dog, which is not intended as a joke; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(negative) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(negative)
  - lanstin 5y ago
    No bar tho.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
mcv 5y ago
> Why is it certain that this is a joke and not some kind of wisdom, charm or unknown literary category? The distinction between those may not always be that well-defined. I once read that the story of the Good Samaritan (by Jesus) follows the structure of a popular set of jokes (or possibly self-congratulatory "wisdom") of the time: something happens, a priest comes by and is useless, a Levite passes by and is useless, and finally a common Jew comes by and fixes the problem, and everybody gets to feel good about being a commoner and not some useless elitist. Except Jesus tripped up his audience by replacing the Jew with a Samaritan.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  There is a famous story about Zhuangzi [if you prefer, Chuang Tzu] that goes like this: ----- Zhuangzi and Huizi were crossing a bridge over the river Hao. Zhuangzi said: the fish have come out to play; this makes them happy. Huizi said: You are not a fish. How do you know what makes fish happy? Zhuangzi said: You are not me. How do you know that I don't know what makes fish happy? Huizi said: I am not you. Of course I do not know you. [But] you are certainly not a fish. Your non-knowledge of what makes fish happy is total. Zhuangzi said: Please stick to your original [question]. You asked how I know what makes fish happy. You already knew that I knew this and [still] you asked me. I know it over the Hao. ----- "I know it over the Hao" makes sense because in the original language, the word "how", 安, is also the word "where". The story comes down to us as part of a foundational text. Is it wisdom or a cheap joke?
  - kovvy 5y ago
    A lot of humour consists of buildup followed by a twist - the humour is in the contrast between the expected and the actual. This is very similar to explaining a concept that is flawed or misunderstood by building up a scenario where the expected outcome can be contrasted with an actual outcome. A smaller set replaces 'actual' with 'nonsense'. The text may present this as wisdom, but I would say it is both wisdom and humour.

Why is it certain that this is a joke and not some kind of wisdom, charm or unknown literary category?

spywaregorilla 5y ago

For starters, it looks, and quacks, like a joke

hoseja 5y ago
That's because it had a very convoluted plastic surgery to make it so.

blamazon 5y ago

Because it starts with "A dog walks into a bar"

muzani 5y ago
There's a similar koan with a dog, which is not intended as a joke; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(negative) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(negative)
- lanstin 5y ago
  No bar tho.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

mcv 5y ago

> Why is it certain that this is a joke and not some kind of wisdom, charm or unknown literary category? The distinction between those may not always be that well-defined. I once read that the story of the Good Samaritan (by Jesus) follows the structure of a popular set of jokes (or possibly self-congratulatory "wisdom") of the time: something happens, a priest comes by and is useless, a Levite passes by and is useless, and finally a common Jew comes by and fixes the problem, and everybody gets to feel good about being a commoner and not some useless elitist. Except Jesus tripped up his audience by replacing the Jew with a Samaritan.

thaumasiotes 5y ago
There is a famous story about Zhuangzi [if you prefer, Chuang Tzu] that goes like this: ----- Zhuangzi and Huizi were crossing a bridge over the river Hao. Zhuangzi said: the fish have come out to play; this makes them happy. Huizi said: You are not a fish. How do you know what makes fish happy? Zhuangzi said: You are not me. How do you know that I don't know what makes fish happy? Huizi said: I am not you. Of course I do not know you. [But] you are certainly not a fish. Your non-knowledge of what makes fish happy is total. Zhuangzi said: Please stick to your original [question]. You asked how I know what makes fish happy. You already knew that I knew this and [still] you asked me. I know it over the Hao. ----- "I know it over the Hao" makes sense because in the original language, the word "how", 安, is also the word "where". The story comes down to us as part of a foundational text. Is it wisdom or a cheap joke?
- kovvy 5y ago
  A lot of humour consists of buildup followed by a twist - the humour is in the contrast between the expected and the actual. This is very similar to explaining a concept that is flawed or misunderstood by building up a scenario where the expected outcome can be contrasted with an actual outcome. A smaller set replaces 'actual' with 'nonsense'. The text may present this as wisdom, but I would say it is both wisdom and humour.