# Jokes (and other things) that you didn't get until much, much later. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 5, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815 "2004-06-05T15:36:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/101 "2004-06-10T20:12:05Z")
> [@Hentor the Barbarian](#): > > “What is the definition of a bad housewife? Someone who cooks her carrots and peas in the same pot.” One of my mom’s favorite funny lines (she has so few of them, poor dear) is “Be sure to eat every bean and pea on your plate.” ---
**Author:** ![mkl12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@mkl12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkl12)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/102 "2004-06-10T22:19:17Z")
I still don’t get those: > [@](#): > > Man stands in kitchen, wife beside him. He’s holding up a spaghetti strainer ad he says “I don’t know how people tell the date from this.” Wife: > :smack: and > [@](#): > > kids playing “Button, Button – here comes my father.” ---
**Author:** ![AzRaek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/azraek/32/16739_2.png) [@AzRaek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AzRaek)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/103 "2004-06-10T22:24:03Z")
Spaghetti strainer= colander. Thing with dates on it= calender. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/104 "2004-06-10T22:24:31Z")
> [@mkl12](#): > > I still don’t get those: The spaghetti strainer is also known as a colander, which sounds like calendar. I don’t get the “button, button, here comes my father” either. ---
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/105 "2004-06-11T02:19:10Z")
> [@Miss Mapp](#): > > Ford Prefect (describing travel in hyperspace): It’s unpleasantly like being drunk. > > Arthur Dent: What’s so unpleasant about being drunk? > > Ford: Ask a glass of water. My god, after years, I finally understand this joke. I admit, I cheated–I looked on Google. Hint: what’s the past-tense form of “drink”? ---
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/106 "2004-06-11T02:24:34Z")
On reflectoin, I’m somewhat remorseful about having looked it up. Would have been more satisfying to spontaneously get it, some years from now I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/107 "2004-06-11T02:29:05Z")
> [@racinchikki](#): > > I don’t get the “button, button, here comes my father” either. One teen is undressing the other. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/108 "2004-06-11T05:00:22Z")
About that “not since Superman died” gag: I remember when I was a small child being very confused by the tale of “How Brer Rabbit found his match at last” At about the same age, my mother read [Kipling’s poem](http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_serving.htm) to me. I didn’t understand it at the time, I took it literally. I just thought it was funny to have servant with peculiar names, and I was also amused by the lady that never allowed her servants to rest. I saw _Airplane_ when I was twelve. I was very puzzled by the part where the inflatable autopilot gets a leak, and the stewardess has to reinflate him. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/109 "2004-06-11T05:11:07Z")
Another one: I once listened to the rebroadcast of classic radio comedy series _Educating Archie_ starring Archie Andrews, several decades after its original broadcast. I heard most of the episodes before I twigged that it was a ventriloquist act. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/110 "2004-06-11T17:13:42Z")
> [@Peter Morris](#): > > At about the same age, my mother read [Kipling’s poem](http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_serving.htm) to me. I didn’t understand it at the time, I took it literally. I just thought it was funny to have servant with peculiar names, and I was also amused by the lady that never allowed her servants to rest. Can you explain the non-literal aspect? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/111 "2004-06-11T20:55:04Z")
> [@Miss Mapp](#): > > I didn’t get the “you don’t get down from an elephant; you get down from a duck” joke until I was embarrassingly grown up. > > And, along similar lines, I didn’t understand the following exchange from _Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_ `til years after I first read it: > > Ford Prefect (describing travel in hyperspace): It’s unpleasantly like being drunk. > > Arthur Dent: What’s so unpleasant about being drunk? > > Ford: Ask a glass of water. Oh, man…that’s my favorite book ever, and I’ve read it at _least_ five times. And just now I got that. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/112 "2004-06-12T10:18:10Z")
Borderline, but there was a song by the Shamen about 10 years ago called “Ebeneezer Goode”. The chorus was ‘eezer Goode ‘eezer Goode He’s Ebeeneezer Goode. It wasn’t until years later that I realised it was a blatant reference to Ecstasy: E’s are good. And all you people who just got the water joke, I bet you never got the Ford Prefect reference either. ---
**Author:** ![Second](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Second](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Second)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/113 "2004-06-12T14:11:03Z")
I work in a internet tech support call center and my friend and I are always making jokes as what to say to customers. One of the requirements that we have to do is to have the customer go to a website to verify they can get back online. A few months ago he though it would be funny to direct customers to [www.seeyouintea.com](http://www.seeyouintea.com), of course I did not get the joke. I kept saying the address over and over infront of all my co-workers like a fool… After laughing at me for repeating it over and over again I forgot about it until a few weeks ago. Doh! ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/114 "2004-06-12T23:18:47Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > And all you people who just got the water joke, I bet you never got the Ford Prefect reference either. I got the water joke, but I needed the Ford joke explained to me. In my defense, I plead being an American, since we never got the Prefect here. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/115 "2004-06-13T01:19:11Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Is there more to this than the idea that the camoflage won’t work in snow? From your excited reaction it seems that there ought to be some other joke to it that I’m missing… No, that’s all to the joke. Like I said, it’s sad that I was so excited about figuring it out. What’s worse, it took me that long to. I tend to do this a lot. A few days ago, my mom gave me part of my graduation gift. It was a little clock shaped like an airplane. About an hour later while we were driving I screamed out “I get it now.” (I really do say that.) Mom: Get what? Me: Your gift. It’s shaped like an airplane because I’m going into the Air Force. Mom: (Staring at me in disbelief) Me: What? Mom: You know Ryan, you are so smart at times. And at others…(then she does that slow headshake.) ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/116 "2004-06-13T02:34:58Z")
> [@Phase42](#): > > Q: Why did the Dairy Queen get pregnant? > A: Because the Burger King pulled out his Whopper. Isn’t the punchline _really_ “Because the Burger King forgot to wrap his Whopper?” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/117 "2004-06-13T03:02:21Z")
Er, Rand, there’s another reason that a clock might be shaped like an airplane. someone _not_ going into the Air Force might appreciate the same gift. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/118 "2004-06-13T04:00:55Z")
> [@Peter Morris](#): > > Er, Rand, there’s another reason that a clock might be shaped like an airplane. someone _not_ going into the Air Force might appreciate the same gift. I know that, but she chose that shape on purpose. She said so herself. ---
**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:** [June 13, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/119 "2004-06-13T05:01:41Z")
In the opening minutes of _It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World_, Jimmy Durante is fatally wounded in a car crash. As he lies dying among the debris and random litter on the side of a California highway, he explains to a group of motorists who stopped to help that he buried $350,000 in a park, thus setting them off on a wild race with many comic misadventures. As Durante died, his body gave a last spasmodic jerk, startling the motorists and me. Only years later did I realize that as his dying act he had literally kicked the bucket. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815/120 "2004-06-13T05:15:05Z")
Today (_today_, mind you) I was making sandwiches for my family for lunch, and I was toasting the bread. Well, I got distracted by another chore, and the toast popped up, and stayed in the toaster, cooling, for several minutes, before Michaela reminded me. As I retrieved the toast, I grumbled aloud that we should get some microwave toast. “Takes all of the drudgery out of making toast,” I said, using my best Earl Sinclair speech patterns. Then I stopped in my tracks, stood stock-still in the middle of the kitchen, and said “OOOHHHH, _Sinclair_!.” And Just now, while I was typing this, I stopped again, and said, “OOOHHHH, _Earl_!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-and-other-things-that-you-didnt-get-until-much-much-later/248815.md?page=7)