8 ms·
There was a period of like 2 years when I was a kid where chuck Norris jokes were all the rage on the playground and I made an iPhone app that listed them all.
by willio58 7mo ago
There was a period of like 2 years when I was a kid where chuck Norris jokes were all the rage on the playground and I made an iPhone app that listed them all.
Jokes like “Chuck Norris is able to slam a revolving door.”
Anyway, I “built” this stupid app when I was like 13, copy-pasted like 300 jokes in there and a random one would show every time you tapped the screen.
Chuck Norris’s estate blocked the app from going live. I wish I had printed that rejection out and framed it.
- alias_neo 7mo agoI'm pretty sure they were all the rage when _I_ was at school, but that was long before the iPhone. I'm curious on what grounds they blocked the app.
- dfxm12 7mo agoIf you're curious, maybe you can look into Chuck's lawsuit against Penguin's book of Chuck Norris facts. He would eventually "co-author" his own book. The obvious guess here is trademark infringement (over use of Chuck's name/likeness) and/or copyright (if some of these facts were lifted from his book).
- alias_neo 7mo agoInteresting. I get the likeness thing, but surely one could publish jokes about anyone they wish and that would be satire or fair use or something? Facts and copyright is an interesting one, because I'm surprised a fact can be copyrighted, unless it's the wording specifically.
- dfxm12 7mo agoFor better or worse, in the US you can pretty much sue anyone for anything. A court certainly requires more evidence to declare liability than Apple would to remove an app. As far as copywriting facts, are you really under the impression that Chuck Norris is the only man who can factually slam a revolving door? :)
- alias_neo 7mo ago> are you really under the impression that Chuck Norris is the only man who can factually slam a revolving door? :) Face palm I hadn't realised we weren't talking about _actual_ facts about him, this makes a lot more sense now.
- bananaflag 7mo ago(Not the parent poster) I found out about them in 2008-2009, and they were quite popular online and offline.
- PurpleRamen 7mo ago> I'm curious on what grounds they blocked the app. The app probably used his pictures or his name, which are easy candidates for copyright or trademark-claims.
- willio58 7mo agoMentioned below in a few comments but it was on the grounds of using his name/likeness.
- MBCook 7mo agoIt was so funny how that whole thing happened. For the first time in over a decade he was suddenly relevant in a way. People remembered he existed, and they were playing off his tough guy image. And what did he do? Try and shut it down and start suing people. Stupid. It took him a couple of years to come around to it. If it wasn’t for those jokes would he be remembered anywhere as well? Or would he be a much more obscure celebrity by now?
- petcat 7mo ago> would he be remembered anywhere as well? You underestimate how popular Walker, Texas Ranger was. It wasn't pulling ratings like Seinfeld, ER, or Friends, but it was a solid primetime staple for almost a decade. I never watched it myself, but the 50+ demo loved it.
- MBCook 7mo agoAnd he would be known by those people. I remember him being famous in the 90s. Would the people who grew up in the early 2000s, or especially 2010s, know much of anything about him? I mean how much do younger people know about Scott Baio or the Corys or Candice Bergen these days?
- spencerflem 7mo agoHaha haven’t heard of either of those but I do know that when Chuck Norris does pushups he pushes the Earth down
- leephillips 7mo agoWe all do. That’s the only way you can do a pushup. It would be more impressive to say that when Chuck Norris does pushups, he violates conservation of momentum and the Earth does not move.
- ben7799 7mo agoYou might be able to argue he was a bigger star than any of them. His career lasted far longer. He had big movie appearances for 30 years, none of those people accomplished that. Norris' first movie role was in 1968, first big credited appearance was 1972, Walker Texas Ranger finished in 2001.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- AdmiralAsshat 7mo agoWas this before or after Mike Huckabee started publicly offering Chuck Norris as his solution to "border security" on the campaign trail?
- dstroot 7mo agoJohn Wick wears Chuck Norris pajamas. RIP to a legend.
- Cthulhu_ 7mo agoI'm still enjoying the Nolan jokes / memes, but in a weird way because of course, via https://www.reddit.com/r/CroppedNorrisJokes/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CroppedNorrisJokes/
- dilawar 7mo agoIn India, we have Rajni (Rajnikanth) jokes that keep increasing in number and are still pretty popular... I remember reading 'The Vinci Code' in college which was very popular those days and getting a SMS from a friend almost the same day, "Rajnikanth gave Monalisa that smile!".
- make_it_sure 7mo agoi created a Facebook App that did something similar, it posted random jokes on your wall This was like 2005-2006
- beAbU 7mo agoI printed out all the jokes on my dad's home office printer and sold copies at school. This was pre smartphones.
- QuiEgo 7mo agoThe expendables had a scene that was basically the meme in live action, highly recommend. It’s all over YouTube.
- gljiva 7mo agoThat scene makes the movie one of the few 10/10 movies in my opinion. It's perfect for the target audience. Seeing my dad, who grew up on these actors' action flicks, laugh himself to tears when Chuck Norris appears is one of my favourite memories.
- Cpoll 7mo agoHaving been near the epicenter, I recall that Vin Diesel jokes (same format) pre-dated Chuck Norris ones. I always found it a shame that the Chuck Norris ones caught on; Vin Diesel is, imo, a better role model. I bet Vin wouldn't have blocked your app.
- tracker1 7mo agoOnly God could defeat Chuck Norris.
- ithkuil 7mo agoWell, that remains to be seen
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- Lukas_Skywalker 7mo agoI did something similar when Microsoft gave away Windows Phones for every app published on the app store. I used the Chuck Norris API though. The one I used is sadly no longer available (I think it was called CNDB). But there's a new one: https://api.chucknorris.io https://api.chucknorris.io
- mindslight 7mo ago> Chuck Norris’s estate blocked the app from going live. I wish I had printed that rejection out and framed it. Seeing the youthful spirit run headfirst into the corprocracy of locked down devices and app stores is depressing. Twenty years ago you would have made a webapp or flash animation, most likely avoided scrutiny and not even been shaken down. Thirty years ago you would have made a QBasic program and floppy/email/dcc it to your friends, completely illegible to the corprocracy. But these days simply trying to publish through the common channels, and you're immediately subject to restrictions made for businesses.
- psadauskas 7mo agoThe Ruby gem "Faker" is used for generating fake data for testing, like legit-looking names, emails, phone numbers, lorum ipsum text, etc. About 10 years ago I was working on a messaging app, and wanted some real messages to see in the UI while I was developing it. One of the best engineering decisions I've made in my career was to pick the Chuck Norris Facts generator for the messages, so every time I re-seeded my local db or looked at a review app on staging, I was greeted by two fake people sending a half-dozen Chuck Norris facts to each other. https://github.com/faker-ruby/faker/blob/main/lib/locales/en/chuck_norris.yml https://github.com/faker-ruby/faker/blob/main/lib/locales/en...
- eddyzh 7mo agoIn had one app like that from Cydia Loved it.
- HarHarVeryFunny 7mo agoJeff Dean got his Chuck Norris app published by Chuck Norris.
- incanus77 7mo agoI knew of "Walker, Texas Ranger" but the jokes definitely kept him relevant to my generation (age: 49) for a resurgent period of time. The only one I remember offhand: "Chuck Norris doesn't do pushups, he pushes the world down."
- fortran77 7mo agoHis estate? While he was still alive?
- kelnos 7mo agoThe "slam a revolving door" one was absolutely one of my favorites. Also "Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups; he pushes the Earth down".
- zem 7mo agoI loved "chuck norris had a fight with superman. loser had to wear their underwear outside their pants."
- multidude 7mo agoChuck Norris did not die. He was just sick of death being too afraid to come for him, so he went to meet it. I just wonder... what if he killed it?