# 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:** 50
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/982 "2021-01-16T20:45:52Z")
Me llama - Pat’s King of Steaks? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/983 "2021-01-16T21:13:38Z")
Remember the old Willard Espy poem about the two-letter abbreviations? > [@](#): > > When baby gurgles GUAM and GEORGIA, > Then how I NEVADA baby’s PENNSYLVANIA […] > > But when the sound is WASHINGTON WASHINGTON WASHINGTON, […] > Then I don’t NEVADA PENNSYLVANIA at a’. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2021, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/984 "2021-01-16T22:02:54Z")
Episode of News Radio, Jimmy James says to Dave, “You give more formal apologies than Union Carbide.” The reference is to the [Bhopal Disaster,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster) an accident at Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal India, considered to be the world’s worst industrial disaster. The episode aired in 1997 more than a decade later, but the repercussions of the disaster continued in the news with clean-up operations, health issues, and both criminal and civil lawsuits continuing into the 21st century. At the moment it’s a bit difficult to explain not only what it was but why it was funny. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/985 "2021-01-17T02:07:13Z")
nevermind ---
**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:** [January 17, 2021, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/986 "2021-01-17T03:20:28Z")
In a similar vein, the line “I\d rather have my ass caned in Singapore!” was used in the _ **Married … with Children** _ episode “Shoeway to Heaven” (1994). This came on the heels of an infamous incident in which an American teenager was indeed caned there: > **[Michael P. Fay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_P._Fay)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Michael Peter Fay (born May 30, 1975) is an American who was sentenced to six strokes of the cane in Singapore in 1994 for theft of road signs and vandalizing 18 cars over a ten-day period in September 1993, which caused a temporary strain in relations between Singapore and the United States. Fay pled guilty, but he later claimed that he was advised that such a plea would preclude caning and that his confession was false, that he never vandalize... Reflecting current events better than the Union Carbide line, I’d say. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2021, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/987 "2021-01-17T09:03:37Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The real problem is all the states that begin with “m”. I still get the “A” state abbreviations confused. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2021, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/988 "2021-01-17T14:06:19Z")
I was being totally serious: We band members all knew that telephone numbers used to start with a two-letter abbreviation, but we knew it only in the abstract: Phone numbers being expressed that way were almost nonexistent in our lifetimes, so we didn’t know exactly how the system worked. And we also all knew that the two-letter abbreviation for Pennsylvania was PA, especially since that’s the state we were in. So it was easy enough, though incorrect, for us to assume that the two-letter abbreviation for Pennsylvania in “Pennsylvania 6-5000” was “PA”, just like it is everywhere else that there’s a two-letter abbreviation for Pennsylvania. I suppose that sober reflection might have revealed the problem, but that wasn’t the sort of reflection that was being done at the time the problem came up. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2021, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/989 "2021-01-18T01:17:38Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > “Pa.” _was_ one of the traditional abbreviations for Pennsylvania, which I remember from the 1950s/1960s. That’s almost certainly why the postal service chose it over the more logical PE. We should all be thankful that they did. Otherwise, we couldn’t say “if you’re looking for Intercourse, PA, go through Gap, PA and soon you’ll be in Paradise, PA. If you see Bird-in-Hand, you’ve gone too far, but if you turn right in time, Blue Ball’s awaiting.” ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/990 "2021-01-19T16:40:46Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > MO is Missouri, not Montana I was in a geographically dispersed group in the 1980’s with teams in 5 or 6 cities. There was a video team meeting (very high-tech back then) and the people in charge popped up a Powerpoint showing all of the locations as stars on a US map. There was Kansas City, smack dab in the center of Montana. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2021, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/991 "2021-01-19T17:27:14Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > There was Kansas City, smack dab in the center of Montana. It’s always funny to see these things in a collection of stupid mistakes and the like in a YouTube video, and then one day it happens to you in real life and you begin to question how strong a foundation our world is built on. Okay, it was the 80s, getting a PowerPoint done back then could be a frustrating effort, maybe this was nothing but another funny incident like PA6-5000 and a humorous and harmless mistake that’s entertainment value exceeds the potential for harm, but sometimes I feel like today’s jokes are becoming tomorrow’s tragedies. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/992 "2021-01-23T17:48:52Z")
Would anyone under the age of 30 understand Mr Potter muttering “1A…1A…1A.” in **It’s a Wonderful Life**? ---
**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:** [January 23, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/993 "2021-01-23T18:06:11Z")
That’s nothing. I was watching a fluff TV show about pizza in Europe, and their map put Warsaw, Poland, right smack where Berlin, Germany, is. (I wonder how any Poles watching would take that?) I sent the production studio an e-mail asking how their graphic artists could make such an obvious mistake. To their credit, they replied and said they’d look into the matter. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2021, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/994 "2021-01-23T18:33:34Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > Would anyone under the age of 30 understand Mr Potter muttering “1A…1A…1A.” in **It’s a Wonderful Life**? I’m over 50 and I don’t know what it means. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/995 "2021-01-23T18:54:25Z")
He was head of the draft board ranking men for their draft status. 1A being available for service, 2 would be occupational deferment, 3 is hardship deferment, etc. Potter is sending people to fight. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/996 "2021-01-23T19:13:46Z")
Why 30? There hasn’t been a draft in the US since 1973. I’m 66, and I know what 1A meant. I turned 18 two weeks before the Vietnam War ended ---
**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:** [January 23, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/997 "2021-01-23T19:29:29Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’m 66, and I know what 1A meant. 1. I knew because every lover or brother or male friend I knew was 1A . Held my breath for years. My mother kept maps to Canada in her glove department at all times. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/998 "2021-01-23T19:56:11Z")
Someone today asked me to explain “The Three Sea Shells” from Demolition Man. I had to explain that there _is no explanation,_ and that’s the whole joke, right there. (Cute movie!) ---
**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:** [January 23, 2021, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/999 "2021-01-23T23:49:20Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > That’s the implication of the post. > > Actually, there’s no reason the postal abbreviation couldn’t be PE instead of PA, since Pennsylvania is the only state that begins with a “p”. The real problem is all the states that begin with “m”. I’ve said this before and I maintain it now: Two-letter geographic abbreviations are the worst, and we should kick that to the curb. If abbreviations are necessary (and they’re usually not), Ala., Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Fla., Ill., Ind., Kan., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mont., Neb., Nev., Tenn., are much better and more useful than AL, AZ, AK, CA, CO, CT, FL, IL, IN, KS, MA, MI, MN, MS, MT, NE, NV, TN. And a few states should never be abbreviated, like Iowa, Ohio, Utah ---
**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:** [January 24, 2021, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/1000 "2021-01-24T02:51:27Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I’ve said this before and I maintain it now: Two-letter geographic abbreviations are the worst, and we should kick that to the curb. If abbreviations are necessary (and they’re usually not), Ala., Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Fla., Ill., Ind., Kan., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mont., Neb., Nev., Tenn., are much better and more useful than AL, AZ, AK, CA, CO, CT, FL, IL, IN, KS, MA, MI, MN, MS, MT, NE, NV, TN. > > And a few states should never be abbreviated, like Iowa, Ohio, Utah At the time it was first instituted it made some sense for meeting known and expected future demands based on the limited technology of the day and first class mail volume expected to continue increasing. I don’t see any particular reason to either maintain or get rid of this system at the moment. ---
**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:** [January 24, 2021, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466/1001 "2021-01-24T03:37:18Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Someone today asked me to explain “The Three Sea Shells” from Demolition Man. Shhh… nobody tell Trinopus about the three shells. … Yeah, that means you guys from the parallel timeline, too… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466.md?page=49) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-that-nowadays-need-explaining/921466.md?page=51)