# "142"? Very Funny, Mr. Jackson **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 27, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193 "2009-06-27T20:06:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![A\_Man\_A\_Plan\_A\_Canal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/839c29/32.png) [@A\_Man\_A\_Plan\_A\_Canal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Man_A_Plan_A_Canal)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/1 "2009-06-27T20:06:47Z")
CNN Web Site: The cover photo right now (3:15 pm CST) shows Joe Jackson standing with Jesse Jackson and an unidentified man. Mr. (Joe) Jackson has a cap on that appears to have the number “142” sewn on it. Around here, when the kids wear a cap with that number, it means “I love me”; it’s sort of a play or pun on the practice of signing letters or emails or texts with the number 143, meaning “I love you.” Yeah, very funny, Mr. Jackson. That explains a lot about Michael’s sad life. AMAPAC ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/2 "2009-06-27T20:15:39Z")
Why does 143 mean “I love you”? ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/3 "2009-06-27T20:17:02Z")
143 means I love you? Okay, 'splain please. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/4 "2009-06-27T20:18:22Z")
The number of letters in each word. 133 would be ‘I eat you’. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/5 "2009-06-27T20:23:04Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The number of letters in each word. > > 133 would be ‘I eat you’. That’s dumb. 143 could just as easily mean “I fuck you”, “I like pie”, or “I hump cat” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/6 "2009-06-27T20:24:17Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > That’s dumb. 143 could just as easily mean “I fuck you”, “I like pie”, or “I hump cat” Context is everything. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/7 "2009-06-27T20:25:42Z")
By that logic 143 could mean I hate you, or I rape you, or I f\*ck you, or I hate men, etc… it’s idiotic. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/8 "2009-06-27T20:30:06Z")
Is this the death of English? Gah. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/9 "2009-06-27T20:49:30Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Context is everything. See the thing is, in my world, I would be equally likely to use all of those phrases in any context. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/10 "2009-06-27T20:54:43Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > By that logic 143 could mean I hate you, or I rape you, or I f\*ck you, or I hate men, etc… it’s idiotic. > [@Rigamarole](#): > > That’s dumb. 143 could just as easily mean “I fuck you”, “I like pie”, or “I hump cat” “Take five” could mean “Take a dump on my shoes”. “Eighty-six” could mean “take this object and crack me in the head with it, please”. But they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/11 "2009-06-27T20:56:30Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > “Take five” could mean “Take a dump on my shoes”… > > But [it doesn’t] Oops. Well that explains something. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/12 "2009-06-27T20:57:14Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Is this the death of English? Nope. It’s just a little something that cropped up when beepers came on the scene. Since you could only send the recipient numbers, not text, it was just a way to convey a short, common message. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/13 "2009-06-27T21:14:38Z")
1. 2. 3. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/14 "2009-06-27T22:29:40Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > Nope. It’s just a little something that cropped up when beepers came on the scene. Since you could only send the recipient numbers, not text, it was just a way to convey a short, common message. UGH. And no thank you. I don’t even like it when people text stuff like L8R etc. 143 is meaningless and cheap. I love you may be overused and (at times) trite, but I’ll take that over “here’s my secret decoder rings special message just 4 U” crap any day. ---
**Author:** ![smee\_goan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@smee\_goan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smee_goan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/15 "2009-06-27T22:36:14Z")
I love (@)(@) ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/16 "2009-06-27T22:45:10Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > UGH. And no thank you. I don’t even like it when people text stuff like L8R etc. > 143 is meaningless and cheap. I love you may be overused and (at times) trite, but I’ll take that over “here’s my secret decoder rings special message just 4 U” crap any day. 10-4. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/17 "2009-06-27T22:45:39Z")
> [@smee\_goan](#): > > I love (@)(@) I love cinnamon buns too, but the second one always makes me feel a bit queasy. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/18 "2009-06-27T23:10:15Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > 1. > 2. > 3. You…_bastard_. I don’t know why they haven’t banned you for this yet. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/19 "2009-06-27T23:28:58Z")
> [@smee\_goan](#): > > I love (@)(@) The nipple to boob ratio is huge! Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193/20 "2009-06-28T01:22:00Z")
My husband just told me to shut up, as he’s on the phone and does not want the person he is speaking with to hear me cackling as I read this page. (Cackles quietly to self.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/142-very-funny-mr-jackson/501193.md?page=2)