# Dumb, obvious jokes some people can't help but reflexively make **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2023, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928 "2023-12-21T12:09:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/161 "2023-12-31T01:08:21Z")
I was making Mrs. Solost a bagel and lox sandwich today. I asked her if she wanted it cut in half. She said she did. I asked “straight or diagonal cut?” After just a half second beat, she said “oh, har har har”. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/162 "2023-12-31T01:17:40Z")
That’s a good one! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/163 "2023-12-31T05:40:06Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I asked her if she wanted it cut in half. My own personal dumb-joke corollary is, when someone is cutting a sandwich or something and asks me which half I want, I say “top half.” It usually gets a decent reaction if the person hasn’t heard me say it before. The problem with reflexive dumb jokes is that they _do_ get repeated, and the other person is annoyed. As my poor suffering wife can attest. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/164 "2023-12-31T08:20:19Z")
“I ran into Bob on the way home!” “Oh no, was he hurt?” ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/165 "2023-12-31T15:57:59Z")
> [@Orville\_mogul](#): > > I prefer “Heaven, God speaking.” I had a friend in college that would answer the phone “Garden of the Gods. God speaking.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/166 "2023-12-31T16:06:19Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Apropos to the holiday, I couldn’t resist saying “I’m taking the rest of the year off!” when I left work Friday. And I’m sure I’ll tell some poor cow-orker “I haven’t seen you since last year!” when I go back on January 2nd. Whenever it’s someone’s last day on the job, they’ll eventually say something that implies they’re not exactly giving 110% today — which prompts me to look them in the eye and sternly intone,_“if you’re gonna keep talking like that, don’t bother showing up for work tomorrow.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Mortimus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mortimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mortimus)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/167 "2023-12-31T17:59:21Z")
I had a buddy who answered his phone, “Telephone”. He was delightfully weird. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/168 "2023-12-31T19:25:07Z")
A man gets up to go use the restroom. “If you shake it off more than twice you’re playing with it!” ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/169 "2023-12-31T19:36:47Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > some poor cow-orker > [@LSLGuy](#): > > comments to a cow-orker Does “cow-orker ” count as one of those “jokes” that ceased to be amusing many many years ago?’ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/170 "2023-12-31T19:50:33Z")
Probably. IIRC we had a whole thread (or section of thread) on tired Doper clichés recently. Hmmm. After some searching … the original innocent comment that triggers the cliché mini-debate is here: > [@NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 3)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/1899): > > You misspelled “Congressman virtue signals”. and the back and forth about overused clichés lasted from there (post 1899) to post 1941 with just a couple off-topic (off-hijack actually) interjections. And yes, “cow-orker” took some abuse along the way. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/171 "2023-12-31T19:52:50Z")
Wait, you’re blaming that all on me?!? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/172 "2023-12-31T19:53:42Z")
Not your fault you were unwittingly standing on a powder keg when you casually dropped that match. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/173 "2023-12-31T21:34:51Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > > > some poor cow-orker > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > comments to a cow-orker > > Does “cow-orker ” count as one of those “jokes” that ceased to be amusing many many years ago? Not so much as a joke as sort of a SDMB meme, like Og or the squid and the goat; a nod to the board’s traditions, if you like. If I’m honest with myself, I used it as a status marker to show that I’m a longtime Doper. Certainly didn’t intend it as a joke. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/174 "2023-12-31T23:49:29Z")
I think Scott Adams popularized it in his Dilbert mail list before that, so it is badly tainted since he revealed himself to be such a colossal asshole. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/175 "2024-01-01T02:28:04Z")
I first encountered it on [Salon.com](http://Salon.com)’s TableTalk fora. That was years before I discovered the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/176 "2024-01-01T16:01:22Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I would call myself “King of the Dad Joke”, but @Prof.Pepperwinkle pretty much has that title locked up. Thank you very much, and Happy New Year! ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/177 "2024-01-01T16:33:22Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > \*I live alone. This might help explain it. it does … . and a lot of other stuff as well… _rimshot_ ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/178 "2024-01-01T17:05:23Z")
Something I’ve found myself doing in the past is making one of these dumb, obvious jokes, but doing it ironically. For example saying “see you next year” to a coworker just before the holiday break. But I’ll make a slight mugging expression or say it with a sarcastic inflection to convey that I’m teasing the fact that other people say it unironically. Trouble is, I think that some (most?) people didn’t get my sublimely subtle layering of irony, and just thought I was making a dumb, obvious joke. Or, let’s say the cashier at the grocery store can’t scan an item. I might say “don’t worry, I won’t ask if it’s free, har har”. So I’m saying I’m too clever to make the obvious joke, while still subjecting the cashier to it. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/179 "2024-01-01T17:23:47Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > > > I would call myself “King of the Dad Joke”, but @Prof.Pepperwinkle pretty much has that title locked up. > > Thank you very much and Happy New Year! And to you! I look forward to another year of battling wits with you in the Botticelli thread! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928/180 "2024-01-01T18:30:51Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Something I’ve found myself doing in the past is making one of these dumb, obvious jokes, but doing it ironically. For example saying “see you next year” to a coworker just before the holiday break. But I’ll make a slight mugging expression or say it with a sarcastic inflection to convey that I’m teasing the fact that other people say it unironically. Yup. That’s my point of view, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-obvious-jokes-some-people-cant-help-but-reflexively-make/994928.md?page=10)