# 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:** 32
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/622 "2020-11-02T21:00:11Z")
I’m a feminist and I’ve always found that joke funny. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/623 "2020-11-02T21:50:21Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Question for gays reading this: I wonder about that Haitian joke: > > Would that particular joke be widely taken as offensive by gays? Would it have been widely taken as offensive back in the 1970’s or 1980’s? Yes and yes. The implication is that the last thing in the world you’d want is your mother knowing you’re gay. That’s offensive to someone who’s out, not so much to someone who’s closeted. But still funny. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2020, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/624 "2020-11-02T22:01:32Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I’m a feminist and I’ve always found that joke funny. The version I heard first was, “How many Harvard girls does it take to change a lightbulb?” and the answer was “That’s Radcliffe, that’s women, and **that’s not funny!** ” I think it’s a good example of a joke that’s both very-well constructed and also kind of an asshole joke: it was presumably used to marginalize rich white women who were trying to achieve parity with rich white men. Also, with the Radcliff bit, a joke that needs explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/625 "2020-11-02T22:17:47Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Question for gays reading this I wonder about that Haitian joke: > > Would that particular joke be widely taken as offensive by gays? Would it have been widely taken as offensive back in the 1970’s or 1980’s? I won’t presume to speak for LGBTQ Dopers, but yes, back when this joke was current, I perceived it as offensive. For one thing, it made light of a disease that was then ravaging the gay community (even if, in my innocence, I did not know how badly). It also relies on the assumption that homosexuality is a shameful condition that a gay man should go to ridiculous lengths (like trying to prove he’s Haitian) to deny. It’s by no means the ugliest AIDS joke I heard - some of which weren’t even redeemed by any humor - but it’s still homophobic. Or at least, so it seems to me. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/626 "2020-11-03T00:32:06Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > What do you get if Dracula bites Lee Iacocca? > > autoexec.bat I laughed. ---
**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:** [November 3, 2020, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/627 "2020-11-03T01:10:44Z")
I always liked: _How do you identify a Feminist bookstore?_ _No Humor section._ Nowadays kids would ask “What’s a bookstore?” ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/628 "2020-11-03T01:40:45Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _How do you identify a Feminist bookstore?_ > > _No Humor section._ [Relevant link.](https://entertainment.theonion.com/woman-takes-short-half-hour-break-from-being-feminist-t-1819576049) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/629 "2020-11-03T11:59:57Z")
I dunno… The AIDS/Haitian joke just relies on the fact that homosexuality is something that a person would want to hide, not that it’s something they should want to hide. And in the days when gays were persecuted so much more than now, there was lots of reason to want to hide it. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/630 "2020-11-03T17:16:47Z")
Another one from Mary Tyler Moore. Mary sent an article about her grandfather to Reader’s Digest. She got a letter back from them, but was too nervous to open it. Murray declined, so she asked Ted. He took his time opening the envelope, and she yelled at him to hurry. He then held the envelope up to his forehead and said “And the answer is…” That’s a reference to [Carnac the Magnificent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnac_the_Magnificent), a bit Johnny Carson did on The Tonight Show. They turned her down. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/631 "2020-11-03T17:45:22Z")
Hell, the whole idea of sending contributions to the Reader’s Digest. Is that like a blog? Who reads blogs these days? ---
**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:** [November 3, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/632 "2020-11-03T17:55:12Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Who reads blogs these days? Me. Not lots of them; but some. Of course, I post on messageboards, too – ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/633 "2020-11-03T17:56:53Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Who reads blogs these days? Who reads these days? Nowadays everyone just communicates by emoji. ---
**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:** [November 3, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/634 "2020-11-03T18:01:21Z")
🙊 😹 ---
**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:** [November 3, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/635 "2020-11-03T21:19:40Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Nowadays everyone just communicates by emoji. I do that in person, too. “So, beach ball blind monkey avocado scary clown?” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/636 "2020-11-03T23:45:46Z")
Indeed, people ~~write~~ compose entire stories with emojis. Just google emoji stories to find plenty. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2020, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/637 "2020-11-04T01:36:24Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Indeed, people ~~write~~ compose entire stories with emojis. It was the 💯 of 🕰 It was the 🚽 of 🕰 ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/638 "2020-11-04T02:02:15Z")
😂😂😂😂😂 Sorry, I had to do five. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/639 "2020-11-04T03:20:07Z")
> [@digs](#): > > It was the 💯 of 🕰 > > It was the 🚽 of 🕰 🎇 💥 😁 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/640 "2020-11-06T13:38:46Z")
Anybody gets this one, I’ll buy them a lobster dinner at Scott’s the next time I’m in London: **Q:** What are N, O, and P? **A:** Mary Beth Whitehead’s next three kids. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/641 "2020-11-06T13:46:15Z")
Had to look it up [Baby M - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_M) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466.md?page=33)