# IQ difference and jokes. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053 "2010-03-27T20:58:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/61 "2010-03-29T21:46:50Z")
> [@palindromemordnilap](#): > > Well, Isaac’s IQ must have been about 170, and mine was tested at about 140 in the 1970s, so that would explain why I never enjoyed L&S. But extending the logic, a person with a 110 IQ might think Squiggy was a laff riot. Actually Asimov mentioned in his Autobiography that he only scored 161 on his Mensa entrance exam, but he said he did it in half the time allowed. He also mentioned that he loved **Columbo** which I liked also. ---
**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:** [March 29, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/62 "2010-03-29T22:09:40Z")
> [@JerseyFrank](#): > > So my 3 year old daughter understanding and repeating the following jokes is a good sign? > > “Hey, what are you eating under there?” > “Under where?” > “EwweWWewWW… you’re eating underwear?” > > “You like chicken but, I like turkey, right?” > “Right” > “Ha ha… you like chicken butt!” Yes. Word play at this age is very advanced. Average is the humor of potty words or underwear on the head. At four is the timing but the punch line makes no sense. Actual word play that makes sense and knowing that they are twisting the meaning is more typical of by 5-6 y.o. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/63 "2010-03-30T02:16:51Z")
“My IQ is \” (xkcd cartoon): > **[Numbers](https://xkcd.com/715/)** > > The typical internet user (who wants to share) has an IQ of 147 and a 9-inch penis. Well, better than the reverse, I guess. (penis size one, in there too, if that’s your hangup) ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/64 "2010-03-30T02:48:00Z")
Purely anecdotal, but I have frustrated memories of a joke-telling session with a group of people who were pretty clearly on different levels. It was unsuccessful because every single joke needed to be explained. Half the table would be laughing and the other half would just sit there confused. The elements of humor are truth and surprise. Often this means saying something that can be interpreted two different ways (which is why puns work.) If your mind is not agile enough to figure out the second interpretation, you aren’t going to get it and the joke will fall flat. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/65 "2010-03-30T15:52:26Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > If someone is so super smart, shouldn’t they be able to adjust their humor to their lowly audience? A smart person might be able to learn to speak to a lower level. A less intelligent person, regardless of effort, will not be able to grasp some concepts that a very intelligent one understands. When discussions of IQ come up, I often think notice that those who say things like “But IQ doesn’t really mean anything.” are generally not those with very high IQs. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/66 "2010-03-30T16:50:57Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Watching the video linked: > “Why are you crying?” > “Because I’m so stupid…!” > “That’s no reason to cry…” > It takes a certain level of reasoning to realize he just agreed with her that she’s stupid; another level to realize that he’s so dumb (disconnected?) that he doesn’t realize what he did. Below a certain level of reasoning ability, the watcher would nto be able to connect the dots. That is a good example of a “smart” joke which I’d expect could elude a slow person. Most of everything else mentioned in this thread not so much. I’ve gotten all of them, but they aren’t exactly knee slappers (although the one about the ATM is hella funny to me because I’m a Techie alum). A dumb person presumably could understand these jokes but just not find them humorous because they see them as corny. Is that the disconnect we’re talking about? Your post reminds me of a comment a potential suitor made to me during a first-time phone conversation. Keep in mind, he’d seen at least one picture of me online and had made the first move. (Poet license taken liberally.) Him: I don’t go after very attractive women because they are usually crazy. The prettier the crazier they seem. Me: :eek: followed by :rolleyes: Me: Hmmm, that’s interesting. (I said this in the driest tone possible) Him: Yeah, really attractive girls think they are all that so they act all entitled and stuff and _are crazy_. And did I mention, crazy? Only the real attractive ones. That’s why I don’t talk to them. Save the hot girls for someone else. Me: Well, I guess I should be flattered then. Thank you. Look, I gotta get off the phone, okay? Him: Wait, we just started talking! Me: Look, I’ma need you to think about what you said. Because it’s a bit hilarious and I want to get off the phone so I can give it the laugh that it so honestly deserves. Him: What are you talking–oh…" And then the idiot got really really mad at me for reacting to the implications of his statement. I guess he realized that he’d made a complete fool out of himself and was embarrassed, but at no point did it occur to him that the correct response was to apologize and/or make some self-deprecating remark. So you are correct about the connecting the dot thing. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/67 "2010-03-30T17:14:24Z")
I’ve used the Chandreskhar Limit as a punchline, if that matters. I recall an episode of _Friends_ that touched on this - Joey’s concern that he was too dumb to keep up with the witticisms of the others (of which I only remember a passing reference to “The Algonquin Kiddie Table”, which I thought was cute). He bought one volume of an encyclopedia, all he could afford, and read it through, but was disappointed to learn that he couldn’t steer later conversations toward subjects that began with “V”. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/68 "2010-03-30T17:25:24Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Sister Vigilante writes: > > \> My friends all think I’m hilarious with a very dry sense of humor, and that I’m > \> often very serious but when I let one fly it brings down the house. My IQ is 160 > \> or thereabouts, Mensa tells me I’m in the top 1% of the population. > \> > \> Only two of my friends shared any classes with me, and one of them had an IQ > \> higher than mine by around 5 points (the class we shared was one specifically > \> for the smartest kids in school and of course we all took an IQ test). The rest > \> were in the mid-level classes. > > Excuse me for doubting your story, but this doesn’t add up. An I.Q. of 160 or higher is quite rare. Only one person in about 31,000 has an I.Q. of 160 or higher. Someone measuring your I.Q. as 160 and telling you that you’re in the top 1% doesn’t make any sense. Your I.Q., if it’s really 160, is much rarer than the top 1%. How is 160 NOT in the top 1%? It may also be in the top .5% and the top .25%, but it’s certainly in the top 1%. The person who gave **Sister Vigilante** this information wasn’t very specific, but it’s not wrong. It’s like saying an Olympic gold medalist finished in the top three. Of course he did. And, **Sister** , Mensa is also telling you to pay your dues. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/69 "2010-03-30T18:33:36Z")
I’m reminded of a scene from Big Bang Theory, season 2. Penny is jealous because Leonard is spending time helping a new, attractive, female neighbor move into the apartment above his. She attempts to impress him (and make the other woman feel dumb) by telling an “physicist joke” that goes something like this: A physicist goes to an ice cream parlor every day and orders two sundaes, placing one in front of an empty chair and eating the other. One day, the shopkeeper asks him why he does this. “Well,” the physicist explains, “quantum theory states that it’s possible that a beautiful woman might appear in the empty chair next to me, eat the sundae, and fall in love with me.” The shopkeeper says, “You know, there are a lot of beautiful women who come in here. Why don’t you just ask one of them out and see if she falls in love with you?” “Right,” says the physicist, “What are the odds of _that_ happening?” Leonard just gives Penny a sour look and says, “That’s kind of insulting …”, and Penny admits that she didn’t actually understand the joke. And clearly, she wasn’t bright enough to catch that it might be insulting. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/70 "2010-03-30T18:43:19Z")
I hope no one else from the TBBT board reads this. I just put “Name three episodes that allude to uncertainty theory on the trivia quiz last night” ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/71 "2010-03-30T19:32:37Z")
> [@dogeman](#): > > Gee thanks for dropping that one in there. I am in awe of you. 😃 Now that’s funny. But I laugh when my dog chases his tail. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/72 "2010-03-30T20:40:20Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I’m reminded of a scene from Big Bang Theory, season 2. Penny is jealous because Leonard is spending time helping a new, attractive, female neighbor move into the apartment above his. She attempts to impress him (and make the other woman feel dumb) by telling an “physicist joke” that goes something like this: > > A physicist goes to an ice cream parlor every day and orders two sundaes, placing one in front of an empty chair and eating the other. One day, the shopkeeper asks him why he does this. > > “Well,” the physicist explains, “quantum theory states that it’s possible that a beautiful woman might appear in the empty chair next to me, eat the sundae, and fall in love with me.” > > The shopkeeper says, “You know, there are a lot of beautiful women who come in here. Why don’t you just ask one of them out and see if she falls in love with you?” > > “Right,” says the physicist, “What are the odds of _that_ happening?” > Leonard just gives Penny a sour look and says, “That’s kind of insulting …”, and Penny admits that she didn’t actually understand the joke. And clearly, she wasn’t bright enough to catch that it might be insulting. Why does Leonard think that is insulting, and why should Penny think it’s insulting? And who exactly do/should they think is being insulted? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/73 "2010-03-30T20:44:41Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > Why does Leonard think that is insulting, and why should Penny think it’s insulting? And who exactly do/should they think is being insulted? The physicist in the joke thinks it’s more likely that a beautiful woman would magically appear and just fall in love with him than that a beautiful woman would actually go out with him if he asked. It’s insulting to physicists because it suggests that physicists are unappealing and that no beautiful woman is going to be attracted to a physicist. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/74 "2010-03-30T20:51:03Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > The physicist in the joke thinks it’s more likely that a beautiful woman would magically appear and just fall in love with him than that a beautiful woman would actually go out with him if he asked. It’s insulting to physicists because it suggests that physicists are unappealing and that no beautiful woman is going to be attracted to a physicist. Yeah, but it’s self-deprecating. It would have only been insulting if the bartender said it. I came away thinking the physicist had low self-esteem. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/75 "2010-03-30T21:05:43Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > The physicist in the joke thinks it’s more likely that a beautiful woman would magically appear and just fall in love with him than that a beautiful woman would actually go out with him if he asked. Yep, got that. > [@](#): > > It’s insulting to physicists because it suggests that physicists are unappealing and that no beautiful woman is going to be attracted to a physicist. I assumed you were going to say that. It doesn’t seem like a statement about reality (which would be an insult), although it certainly requires knowledge of the stereotype, otherwise it’s not as funny. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/76 "2010-03-30T21:09:21Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Yeah, but it’s self-deprecating. It would have only been insulting if the bartender said it. > > I came away thinking the physicist had low self-esteem. It would be self-deprecating it if it was a _physicist telling the joke_. It’s insulting when a non-physicist tells it to a physicist. It similar to the difference between black friends calling each other “nigga” amongst themselves and a white guy calling a black guy “nigga”. But the main thrust was that Penny was repeating a joke that she didn’t even understand. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/77 "2010-03-30T22:30:34Z")
I dunno about this. I mean, I laugh at the joke “Do Calvinist ministers come pre-ordained?”, but I also laughed at the “chicken butt” joke mentioned earlier. Either I have catholic tastes in humor or I’ve embraced my inner three-year-old. ---
**Author:** ![Flipshod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f19dbf/32.png) [@Flipshod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipshod)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/78 "2010-03-31T00:04:01Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > [Joke time:](http://www.microhunt.com/Noter/mmn0426.htm) Booo. I went to Georgia. (actually that’s funny) I might as well also leave my comment on the OP here. Some of my friends who I know I’m at least 40 IQ points above are the funniest people I know. So for humor–naaah. There may be a difference between some “formal” jokes, which require education for the context, and just being funny. But the sense of humor isn’t different I don’t think. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/79 "2010-03-31T00:38:23Z")
I started a new thread just on esoteric humor to avoid the IQ discussion. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12285580#post12285580](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12285580#post12285580) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053/80 "2010-03-31T00:48:07Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Excuse me for doubting your story, but this doesn’t add up. An I.Q. of 160 or higher is quite rare. Only one person in about 31,000 has an I.Q. of 160 or higher. Someone measuring your I.Q. as 160 and telling you that you’re in the top 1% doesn’t make any sense. Your I.Q., if it’s really 160, is much rarer than the top 1%. It makes even less sense that there are two people in a single class (I assume that this means just that the two of you are the same age and the same high school, not that you were always in the same classes in high school) with an I.Q. that high, since that would be far rarer. I’m not arguing for or against anyones IQ scores, but there is a fallacy in your argument. You appear to think that intelligent people are randomly distributed in the population, whereas they actually clump in businesses and communities. When I was in grad school I taught a class on assembly language programming, and two of my students were children of the people who had just proved the four color theorem. One is now a well known CS professor, and the other scored higher than him on tests. I have no idea of their IQs, but would you be shocked if they were both well over 150. Yes, I know about reversion to the mean, but it didn’t seem to work in this case. Do you think the distribution of IQs is the same in MIT as in Podunk Community College? Microsoft Labs and the local recycling center? As for the Dope, I did a study once when this kind of thing came up before. I computed the expected number of Jeopardy contestants in our population versus what is seen in the country as a whole, and I think we were something like three orders of magnitude higher than expected. I think enough people have given their show dates and convincing testimony so I don’t believe many if any are lying about it. That isn’t IQ, but it does indicate that you can’t say much about Doper intelligence levels by referring to those of the country as a whole. I suspect we have an over-representation of PhDs, I know we do of atheists. However, I do agree that internet IQ tests aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iq-difference-and-jokes/534053.md?page=5)