# Jokes that, nowadays, need explaining **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [September 25, 2020, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466 "2020-09-25T02:53:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/182 "2020-10-05T12:16:49Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I also feel people accidentally going to nude beaches was a sitcom/comedy movie plot I saw far too often back in the 80’s, I also assume nude beaches were far more common back then? That’s actually happened to me twice. (The same beach, for the same reason [looking for a place without rocks]) and it is pretty awkward. In my defense the second time, it was not than 30 years later, and i didn’t realize it was the same beach until i walked into the nude section with my kids. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/183 "2020-10-05T12:28:14Z")
And in the near future no one will know what an elephant was. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/184 "2020-10-05T12:43:20Z")
A lifetime ago while I was still going into the office I was troubleshooting a problem with a young co-worker (~28) and were going thru the list of of possible problems and he goes, “well what’s the first thing you know?”. So I just mindless quipped back “Ole Jed’s a millionaire”. Went right over his head and he just looked at me and said I don’t get the reference. I asked him to watch an episode of “The Beverly Hillbillies” and get back to me. The next day he said I still don’t get it. So I watched one on YouTube and it turns out that they don’t play any of the Scuggs and Flatts songs on the YouTube released versions due to song rights issues. What a damn shame, the beginning and ending songs were the anchor of the show. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/y7r2rxtkSMo/hqdefault.jpg "Flatt & Scruggs - The Ballad of Jed Clampett (Theme From The Beverly Hillbillies)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7r2rxtkSMo) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/185 "2020-10-05T12:52:53Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > Maybe they’ve just advanced freezing techniques since the old days, but frozen brussels sprouts work fine for roasting or steaming (they even have ‘steam in bag’ ones that are not bad). Also while boiling is a good way to get a frozen vegetable into edible condition, doing a thaw-cook on frozen veggies doesn’t require the ‘boil them to death’ technique that results in the sad, mushy stuff that kids hate. Great. Just go back in time and explain that to my mother. Little me would have really appreciated it. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/186 "2020-10-05T13:02:50Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > And in the near future no one will know what an elephant was. Sad but probably true. Most likely, zoos and pictures will have to do. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/187 "2020-10-05T15:49:32Z")
I’m pretty sure we got our fixation with boiling vegetables from the British. Back in the day all the Brit cook books recommended boiling vegetables to death to “rid them of their natural impurities” and other such rot. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/188 "2020-10-05T16:17:06Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I assume boiling vegetables started with frozen vegetables. Off season canned or frozen were the choices for green vegetables in much of the country. I never encountered fresh brussels sprouts as a child, frozen was all I ever had to force down my throat to avoid worse consequences. Long before that. 19th century cookbooks usually called for boiling all vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/189 "2020-10-05T16:51:27Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Example: on _Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C._, Gomer and Sergeant Carter went to a French restaurant for dinner. Gomer asked for a translation and ordered something nice. Sergeant Carter just pointed at something random and ended up with fried eggs. In “The Andy Griffith Show” Barney and Andy are at the hotel restaurant in Raleigh (!) and the menus are in French. Andy, sensibly, tells the waiter what he wants in English (figuring that the menu will have steak and potatoes, regardless of what they call it). Barney does the more foolish thing of course, and ends up with squid or some such. I have a faint memory of the Little Rascals using this joke too. The kids are suffering in their orphanage, eating only gruel. The operator of the orphanage comes into some money and takes the kids to a fine restaurant and orders something in French - which turns out to be gruel. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/190 "2020-10-05T18:07:15Z")
I’ve had Brussel sprouts prepared by a professional chef, and I still can’t stand them. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/191 "2020-10-05T19:10:17Z")
I HATE brussel sprouts (to the extent that I won’t even look at a map that has Belgium on it). But just yesterday I tried roasted (/fried/wood-fired/not sure what else’d) brussel sprouts ‘n’ garlic ‘n’ onions at Everly… a little ‘kreative kwee-zeen’ joint in Madison, WI. I have never devoured half an order (it was huge for an appetizer, we split it) so fast. They were soft and crispy and so flavorful… I still hate all other brussel sprouts, though. As I ever shall. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/192 "2020-10-05T19:24:58Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Long before that. 19th century cookbooks usually called for boiling all vegetables. Yeah, boiling is a really easy cooking technology. Even if you don’t have containers that can safely be placed over a fire, there’s [stone-boiling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_boiling), evidence of which dates back to nearly 5,000 years ago. And a [tenth-century Baghdad cookbook](https://www.medievalists.net/2016/06/medieval-cooking-tips/) tells how to boil vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/193 "2020-10-05T19:57:36Z")
I wonder whether the old instructions about boiling vegetables for extended times had to do with using human waste as garden fertilizer. But I have no idea whether they did that in tenth-century Baghdad. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/194 "2020-10-05T20:30:51Z")
I didn’t really assume boiling vegetables started with frozen vegetables, I don’t know how it came out that way. I meant to say the brussels sprout jokes might have started with the boiled frozen version. Obviously people had been boiling vegetables for a very long time. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/195 "2020-10-05T20:35:23Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > I have a faint memory of the Little Rascals using this joke too. The kids are suffering in their orphanage, eating only gruel. The operator of the orphanage comes into some money and takes the kids to a fine restaurant and orders something in French - which turns out to be gruel. Mush. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exHlcqHMfZY) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/196 "2020-10-05T20:36:25Z")
There’s one dish I prefer frozen vegetables for and that’s broccoli, steak, peanuts, and onions boiled in wine and/or oil. Sometimes I add frozen spinach leaves to the mix, and having them frozen means that they have more time to soak up the flavors without being boiled to death. And when I used them they’re fresh-frozen, where I use half of a package of spinach for salad and then put it in the freezer to keep longer. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/197 "2020-10-05T21:03:02Z")
The one remember was “It may have chocked Artie but it aint going to choke me!” ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/198 "2020-10-05T21:06:39Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I didn’t really assume boiling vegetables started with frozen vegetables, I don’t know how it came out that way. I meant to say the brussels sprout jokes might have started with the boiled frozen version. Obviously people had been boiling vegetables for a very long time. Ah, that makes sense. Sorry to misunderstand. Honestly, I was kinda wtf about that. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/199 "2020-10-05T21:14:39Z")
No worries. I didn’t understand why people were telling me about cavemen boiling vegetables until I went back and read what I actually wrote. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2020, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/200 "2020-10-05T21:56:05Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Barney does the more foolish thing of course, and ends up with squid or some such. It was escargot, as I remember it. But scrolling through this thread made me think of a joke that I may need explained to me, also from _The Andy Griffith Show_. The main plot was the old trope where Andy accidentally agreed to have dinner with three different people all on the same night. But a running joke throughout the episode was that every one of them served Andy spaghetti, and each host told him about how their secret ingredient was this new spice they’d just discovered called oregano. At the time I didn’t understand why the characters would act like oregano was something brand new, but I later learned that oregano was pretty much unknown in America before WWII. So I would assume there was a period immediately after the war where it was considered a brand new, exotic ingredient, but I also assume that period was over by the 1960s and oregano was commonplace by then. So am I correct in my guess that the joke was that the people in Mayberry were kind of behind the times, and were just now learning about something the rest of America had discovered a decade or two ago? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/201 "2020-10-05T22:12:26Z")
Not so common in small rural towns. I do think by the 60s it would have been better known but the stories about Mayberry had a sort of 50s-ish bent to them often portraying the townspeople as unsophisticated. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466.md?page=11)