# Are you really shocked, SHOCKED? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 6, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377 "2005-01-06T13:29:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/21 "2005-01-06T15:27:53Z")
I’m shocked… and stunned… very stunned. OK, who gets THAT reference?!? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/22 "2005-01-06T15:41:22Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > Worst of all, you’ve devalued my normal amount of shock. > > “I’m shocked that you would urinate on my carpet.” Well, if the person rubbed their feet on the carpet before urinating, they’d be shocked too. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/23 "2005-01-06T15:42:48Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > Let’s face it model. Some of these little jokes and quips have simply jumped the shark. Well, you’re right. There are certainly some catch-phrases and in-jokes I could live quite happily never hearing again. I just don’t see any point in raining on someone else’s parade. Different people are amused by different things. C’est la vie, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/24 "2005-01-06T15:48:39Z")
I’m too sexy for my shock. Too sexy for my shock. So sexy I rock. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/25 "2005-01-06T16:24:01Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I am not shocked anytime American Electric Power has an outage. I am grounded in the reality that they do not have the juice to get things fixed. I can no longer generate outrage. There’s no utility in it. Remarks like those can get you arrested for battery. In jail, society would be insulated from your fused wit. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/26 "2005-01-06T16:35:28Z")
Can traumatizing events still be seared – _seared!_ – into my memory? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/27 "2005-01-06T16:39:39Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > To give an example, I would be **truly** shocked to see a post from **Otto** opposing gay marriage :::begins plotting April Fool’s prank::: ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/28 "2005-01-06T16:40:35Z")
But don’t you know you’ve got to shock the monkey. ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/29 "2005-01-06T16:43:16Z")
> [@iampunha](#): > > I’m too sexy for my shock. > Too sexy for my shock. > So sexy I rock. I think I’m going to cry. Fortunately, no one can see me now in my office…or they’d be wondering why I’m laughing…(hi baseball hubby! LTNS) ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/30 "2005-01-06T16:44:47Z")
Contrariwise, I do enjoy hearing people say, “We’re going to be rich, RICH I TELL YA.” That’ll never grow old. ---
**Author:** ![MinniePurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@MinniePurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinniePurl)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/31 "2005-01-06T16:59:10Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > The point behind the reduplicated “shocked” is that Claude Rains’ character is portrayed as being an amoral hypocrite – as he utters the line, he is picking up his winnings from the gambling that he is “shocked, shocked” to find going on at Rick’s Place. So it is said, originally and when properly used as a homage to Casablanca, with more than a touch of irony. > > To give an example, I would be **truly** shocked to see a post from **Otto** opposing gay marriage – but I would be “shocked, shocked” to see a statement from Fred Phelps or James Dobson opposing it. The OP can’t grasp the concept that the “shocked, shocked” construction conveys sarcasm… yet he accuses others of having no sense of humor? Oy vey. On a slight tangent, I don’t say “shocked, SHOCKED” in those situations, I usually end the sentence and say “I’m shocked! SHOCKED, I tell you!” or the more obviously sarcastic “Ooh, shocker!” Anyone else have variations of the “sarcastic shocked”? No, Minnie, just you. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/32 "2005-01-06T17:06:13Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I, too, am shocked, SHOCKED, that some posters do boring and repitive crap for no discernible reason. Ah, it’s a 1920s style death shock. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/33 "2005-01-06T17:17:04Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > You’re “shocked”, we get it. If you need to modify it, try “very shocked”. If you’re from Boston, try “wicked shawcked”. Gen-Y, you’re “hella shocked”. Valley girl, you’re “like totally shocked to the max.” Barista, “double shocked, half-decaf, skinny latte”. Marketer, maybe you’re “Sup-A-Shocked” or “Meg-A-Shocked”. You post this, and then go on to accuse other people of not having a sense of humor? Motes and beams, man. Motes and beams. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/34 "2005-01-06T17:26:13Z")
> [@MinniePurl](#): > > The OP can’t grasp the concept that the “shocked, shocked” construction conveys sarcasm… yet he accuses others of having no sense of humor? Oy vey. Oy fuck. The original construction (at least why I’m calling “original”, the Casablanca joke) conveyed humor by indicating Renault’s hyperbolic disbelief, followed by the line “your winnings, sir”, and Renault quietly “yes, thank you.” Renault (at least in the joke’s framework) genuinely wanted people to believe he was terrifically shocked, not that he was sarcastically acknowledging that gambling went on. Of course, it’s current usage is typically sarcastic, but a writer using a cliche to convey sarcasm still means the writer is being lazy. See for example, the URL in the OP. > [@](#): > > You showed up at a free clinic wearing bondage gear, and you were shocked—shocked!—when the overworked, underpaid practitioner wondered if you might not be there for a cheap thrill? And consider “you showed up at a free clinic wearing bondage gear, and you were shocked when the overworked, underpaid practicitioner wondered if you might not be there for a cheap thrill?” The original gains absolutely little and is just a short-cut cliche. It has become so pervasive that I imagine he wrote “shocked-shocked” and didn’t give it a consideration beyond whether he should put a dash or a comma in there. If he did, then tell me, what is his thought process, “hmm, I need a line to convey humorous disdain for this woman’s cluelessness. I could come up with my own joke, or I could just write ‘shocked-shocked’ which everyone should read as code for ‘the author is humorous’”. He defaulted to the cliche instead of doing the work. THAT’S why it’s poor usage. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/35 "2005-01-06T17:32:57Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > I can’t wait until the day that having a sense-of-humor, actually means HAVING. A. SENSE. OF. HUMOR. instead of having the ability to repeat what other people have already confirmed is humorous. Geez, sorry for coming in here the first place. _mildly miffed_ ---
**Author:** ![MinniePurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@MinniePurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinniePurl)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/36 "2005-01-06T17:39:55Z")
Good God, **Trunk** , who died and made you Lord High Arbiter of What Is Humorous? Get over yourself. How many people agree with me that he’s pretentious, pedantic, and not terribly funny? ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/37 "2005-01-06T17:40:30Z")
> [@MinniePurl](#): > > How many people agree with me that he’s pretentious, pedantic, and not terribly funny? Me. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/38 "2005-01-06T17:42:48Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Remarks like those can get you arrested for battery. > > In jail, society would be insulated from your fused wit. Ohm, my God, sir, that was truly re-volting and had nothing to do with the current discussion. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/39 "2005-01-06T18:00:18Z")
I for one welcome our new shocking overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted bombastic SDMB personality, I could be helpful in shocking others. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377/40 "2005-01-06T18:01:21Z")
Indeed. he should be put in a cell. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-really-shocked-shocked/283377.md?page=3)