It’s funny to me that this phrase has gained currency in the scientific community in the ironic sense to satirize the anti-evolution position. I was a judge in a high school science fair today. In the judges’ break room another judge mentioned some theory (unrelated to evolution, maybe about pulsars or something). Someone said “Yeah, but it’s only a theory” and was met with a chorus of laughter.
Ugh. People need to study dictionaries like we did when we were kids.
That’s great! Now that you mention it, I have heard it used as a punchline a few times.
That actually does make me feel a bit more optimistic about the future.
Well, they’re either making fun of creationists, or referencing a punchline Harvey Korman used in a spoof of the TV show Kung Fu on The Carol Burnett Show.
Caine was played by a bald skin-capped Jim Nabors on the skit, and since Mr Nabors recently married his long time boyfriend, it would be a timely riff…
Why do people look at me funny when I post things like this?
“Creationists make it sound as though a ‘theory’ is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night.” - Isaac Asimov
Well, of course the creationists/young Earthers/IDers/etc. seem to think that theory=untested hypothesis.
Satire? I thought that was essentially the anti-evolution position, word for word.
Yes it is. But when you repeat that phrase word-for-word in a situation where it becomes obviously nonsensical, for purposes of ridiculing the people who say it, that’s satire.
Especially when mentioned in conjunction with something like gravity. 