Dumb, obvious jokes some people can't help but reflexively make

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:

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.