# 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:** 39
**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:** [November 22, 2020, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/762 "2020-11-22T00:11:07Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > everything cost a nickel back then. I think you mean a “bee”. ---
**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:** [November 22, 2020, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/763 "2020-11-22T00:41:11Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I think you mean a “bee”. In those days nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. “Give me five bees for a quarter” you’d say. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/764 "2020-11-22T01:00:31Z")
“We gave at the office.” ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/765 "2020-11-22T02:36:03Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I actually take note of all the rooftop antennas in the neighborhood when I go for a walk. That is one obvious sign that this is an older neighborhood. When we removed a big tree that was too close to the house and lifting the foundation, the tree guys found an old antenna that had been lifted high off the roof by the growing branches. I don’t know if the previous owners missed it or not. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/766 "2020-12-05T01:13:57Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Although nude beaches were only slightly more common then, the idea of swimming nude was much more common – as discussed in the several threads here about swimming nude. > > Most of the nude swimming in the 60s and 70s that 80’s sitcom watchers would have been referencing would have been just at secluded locations with difficult access. The idea that a nude beach would have a sign saying “nude beach” was just a plot device. Coed skinny-dipping may have been risqué, but in single-sex (or at least all-male) environments like summer camps, YMCAs, or PE classes it was normal before the '70s. Some YMCAs had men-only swim hours even after they wend coed where suits were option. I remember a seeing a sitcom from the late '70s or early '80s where the a man got the schedule wrong and walked out of the lockerroom naked. Also there’s [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa2BxE0Xq3Y) joke from **The Brady Bunch**. If was just the boys going over it wouldn’t even have been a joke; now days it would be considered alarming instead of innocent or funny. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/767 "2020-12-05T16:55:23Z")
Holy cow this is a long thread. So if someone already posted these, forgive me. But they do fit the OP requirement: Q: What do you call a horse with wings? A: Pegasus Q: What do you call a dog with wings? A: Linda McCartney How did the country music singer get the clap? He was looking for love in all the wrong places ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/768 "2020-12-05T17:07:29Z")
Expect a lot of blowback for that Wings joke. ---
**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:** [December 5, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/769 "2020-12-05T17:30:16Z")
Pun aside, Paul sure wasn’t attracted to her background singing skills. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lb25jQ06J_4/hqdefault.jpg "Linda McCartney Singing 'Hey Jude'") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb25jQ06J_4) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/770 "2020-12-05T17:52:20Z")
Wow, that hurts. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/771 "2020-12-05T17:57:24Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Expect a lot of blowback for that Wings joke. Hey, I didn’t write the dumb thing. It was a joke from the 70’s that now days would need explaining. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/772 "2020-12-05T19:11:20Z")
I told that joke a couple of months ago, and several posters called me a misogynist for posting it. I know better now. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/773 "2020-12-05T20:03:20Z")
I saw a one-panel cartoon a long time ago which showed a couple on a date at a baseball game. Pointing to the third baseman coming out onto the field at the start of an inning, the woman said to the man, “Well, I guess it’s time to go darling? That man was coming out to third base when we arrived.” The joke was based on the fact that movies in theaters used to run non-stop, and people didn’t try to arrive at the start of a movie to watch it from beginning to end. They simply stayed until they recognized the part in the movie that was playing when they first arrived, which meant that they’d seen the whole movie. The woman didn’t know anything about sports, and assumed the same convention applied in a baseball game. They’d apparently been there for one full inning, and she thought it was time to go. Actually, that involves another meme that would need explaining (and maybe get flack) today: the stereotype that women didn’t know anything about sports. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/774 "2020-12-05T20:16:25Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > The joke was based on the fact that movies in theaters used to run non-stop, and people didn’t try to arrive at the start of a movie to watch it from beginning to end. They simply stayed until they recognized the part in the movie that was playing when they first arrived, which meant that they’d seen the whole movie. Also the catchphrase “I guess this is where I came in,” said when you notice things are starting to repeat themselves and it’s time for you to go. When I was a kid, we would always just go to a matinee whenever, and stay through multiple showings until it was time to go home for dinner. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/775 "2020-12-05T21:25:35Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I told that joke a couple of months ago, and several posters called me a misogynist for posting it. I know better now. Guess I’ll lay off the Yoko jokes then. But they still would fit the OP as they’re 40 years old and a lot of people wouldn’t get them today. I thought that was the point of the thread, not to analyze the spirit or intent of the one posting it. ---
**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:** [December 5, 2020, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/776 "2020-12-05T21:33:01Z")
There is a “jokes that wouldn’t fly today” thread currently going on that might be more appropriate. I thought it was a bad joke but not necessarily that you endorsed it. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/777 "2020-12-05T22:25:27Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Expect a lot of blowback for that Wings joke. Well-deserved blowback for it. That’s blatant misogyny and has been thoroughly called out in a previous thread. Cut it out. It was a post by @ **cochrane** in the “Traveling Willsbury or Wings” thread. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/778 "2020-12-05T22:29:43Z")
And **cochrane** was gracious about it when the misogyny was pointed out. Let’s all learn from **cochrane** ’s example. “I didn’t write it” or “I’m just repeating it” is not a good defense. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/779 "2020-12-06T00:06:19Z")
When the lockdown started, I saw a fake news headline that Yoko had received a service award from NYC for singing in the streets at night, which kept people indoors. I dare say that if Linda were still with us, a duet would have been even more effective. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/780 "2020-12-06T00:20:15Z")
“Meals on Wheels” used to be a punch-line or pun in so many jokes from the 70’s to 90’s (What happens when cannibals invade the Paralympics? Meals on Wheels) but despite the organization still existing to this day I’ve pretty much stopped seeing jokes about it since Married with Children ended, does it count if the reference still exists but nobody seems to care about it anymore? ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/781 "2020-12-06T00:59:32Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Before that the go-to reference for mysterious disappearances was the [Judge Crater](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Force_Crater) case in 1930. I’m sure very few people would get that now. I recall a _Mad_ satire of _Lassie_ in which she found a host of lost people, including Judge Crater, who said “Is anyone looking for me?” I was astonished when an episode of _Archer_ included a Crater joke (“Guy sees an empty glass and all of a sudden he’s Judge Crater,” in reference to an absent bartender). I wonder how many Archer fans got that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466.md?page=38) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466.md?page=40)