# People who say deceptive/confusing things on purpose, then laugh **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 22, 2006, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733 "2006-04-22T06:50:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/1 "2006-04-22T06:50:26Z")
Isn’t this practice rather immature? Example: I am working a temporary job giving people surveys on the Metrolink trains. Today, a man getting off the train handed me a flyer advertising a book he wrote. Looking at the flyer, it was not immediately apparent what it was because it was rather wordy and had several seemingly un-related pictures. I ask “What’s this?” and he says “A survey!” and laughs (I had just been the one passing out surveys so he thought this was funny). But it just confused me, since it was obviously not a survey and I really had no idea what the hell it was. I gave it more time than I should have to figure out what it really was, but it didn’t make me very interested in his book, which I thought was the goal of self-promotion. And then another guy who I was working with kept (constantly) saying “Good morning!” enthusiastically to people getting on the night train. Nobody thought it was very funny and pretty much everyone corrected him, but he just kept saying it thinking it was (funny that is, he knew it wasn’t morning). I hate feeling confused. But I tend to trust people enough to go along with the energy of what they are saying until it registers and I realize they are spewing bullshit from their mouth (this takes a couple seconds, but responding to their energy is an instantaneous thing. So in those couple of seconds I just feel confused). At least, I’ll give that benefit of the doubt to people I don’t know - once I get to know them and expect this sort of crap I am much less likely to give them the time of day at all. But anyway, why do they do it? Is there some sort of disease that causes this behavior or is it just a general failure to grow up? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/2 "2006-04-22T07:05:40Z")
Either I am completely screwed, or I fail to see the merit of your pittings here mate. Personally, I just LOVE being confused. It makes my day less ordinary than it otherwise would be!! Revel in confusion. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/3 "2006-04-22T07:06:28Z")
While I must say the practice doesn’t really bother me very much, I _have_ noticed that such people tend to think they’re much cleverer than they actually are, and thus deserve one of these - :rolleyes: . ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/4 "2006-04-22T07:11:40Z")
Yep, gotta agree with **Ogre**. Some folk just like to be smartarses, and deserve a :rolleyes:. Pity them, **Rigamarole**. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/5 "2006-04-22T07:15:35Z")
> [@Ice Wolf](#): > > Pity them, **Rigamarole**. I pity no one. Except the fool. I do pity the fool. (not really I just wanted to say that) ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/6 "2006-04-22T07:18:56Z")
Heh! I like! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/7 "2006-04-22T08:07:50Z")
My ex-SO was like that. It was his sense of humor, but not really mine. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/8 "2006-04-22T15:20:18Z")
You’re not the only one, **Rigamarole**. I hate wasting those few milliseconds on such doofi (doofuses?) too. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/9 "2006-04-22T15:49:56Z")
If it weren’t for confusion I wouldn’t have a job. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/10 "2006-04-22T15:52:14Z")
Sometimes, stupid questions require stupid answers. For example, one day I sat in my chair at work and the back fell off. Co-worker: Where’d you get that chair from? Me: From The Broken Chair Store— ha! The “ha!” is to make sure the person asking the stupid question knows I’m just joking, because you can’t be too sure. A person who doesn’t know I got my chair the same way as she did can be easily confused and not know I didn’t actually get it from a broken chair store. After falling down in the train station. Stranger to me as I lay on the ground: Did you fall? Me: No, I bounced. Ha! The “ha!” again is for the person who saw me fall and yet had to ask the stupidest question ever. Just in case he didn’t know I was joking. To the OP: You should have tossed the flyer when the handee made the sarcastic joke. That’ll learn him. ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/11 "2006-04-22T15:58:28Z")
Some people just enjoy fucking with people. They are exceedingly lame but they don’t know it. When I meet one of them and I figure out that that is what they are like, I immediately put them on my black list and have as little to do with them as possible -forever. I am like you in that I assume honesty until the person proves otherwise. It is their dishonor to be that way. Life is too short to have anything to do with immaturity like that. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/12 "2006-04-22T16:51:47Z")
I fail to perceive what’s the big deal. These people said something they thought was clever and/or funny, and you didn’t find them clever nor funny. End of the story. That’s all I see here. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/13 "2006-04-22T17:07:11Z")
What pisses me off are people who tell you something not so very unreasonable, absolutely dead-pan, and then later seem to get off on your gullibility that you actually believed them. I’m not talking about seeing aliens land in Grovers’ Mills here, I’m talking about perfectly reasonable things that could quite readily be true. Why is it funny that you would believe them? ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/14 "2006-04-22T17:25:03Z")
I happen to be one of those people who says “good morning!” all the time. It sounds more cheerful than “good day” or “good evening.” I admit I do like seeing people in that instant of realization where I can tell they’re actually _paying attention._ Most people don’t, just drifting through the world on autopilot, giving canned answers and not _thinking_ or _listening._ Seems to me I could make an argument against people like the OP, who are using their big brains on something _sooo-oooo_ important that they can’t be bothered to spare any calories to interact with other humans in the world. Confusing people may not be funny, but one could argue that wrapping yourself in “I’m not going to think about any of you people or anything you do or say” is just selfish. On the other hand, I’m also exactly as clever as I think I am — though that’s not saying much. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/15 "2006-04-22T17:54:09Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Seems to me I could make an argument against people like the OP, who are using their big brains on something _sooo-oooo_ important that they can’t be bothered to spare any calories to interact with other humans in the world. Confusing people may not be funny, but one could argue that wrapping yourself in “I’m not going to think about any of you people or anything you do or say” is just selfish. Hmmm… this isn’t a very good description of me or the attitude I was trying to convey. I love to interact with other humans in the world. I love humor. But intentionally confusing people and then laughing at their awkward stares just isn’t my style. And like I said, I don’t like feeling confused. So when I realize someone is prone to that sort of behavior, I’m just not going to trust them/pay attention to them anymore. That’s all. > [@Biggirl](#): > > Sometimes, stupid questions require stupid answers. For example, one day I sat in my chair at work and the back fell off. > > Co-worker: Where’d you get that chair from? > Me: From The Broken Chair Store— ha! > > The “ha!” is to make sure the person asking the stupid question knows I’m just joking, because you can’t be too sure. A person who doesn’t know I got my chair the same way as she did can be easily confused and not know I didn’t actually get it from a broken chair store. > > After falling down in the train station. > Stranger to me as I lay on the ground: Did you fall? > Me: No, I bounced. Ha! > > The “ha!” again is for the person who saw me fall and yet had to ask the stupidest question ever. Just in case he didn’t know I was joking. > > To the OP: You should have tossed the flyer when the handee made the sarcastic joke. That’ll learn him. I don’t think these are the same thing. I understand that sometimes a very obvious question calls for a joking response - but in the example I gave in the OP, like I said, the flyer he gave me was a mess, very wordy, and at a glance, not clear at all what it was for. I was also busy working at the time. So why should I spend a lot of time deciphering this cryptic thing when he could have just told me what it was when I asked him? > [@Oy!](#): > > What pisses me off are people who tell you something not so very unreasonable, absolutely dead-pan, and then later seem to get off on your gullibility that you actually believed them. Yes, this falls under what I was talking about. It’s intentionally deceptive, and the only purpose is some sort of juvenile satisfaction that you trusted them when they were full of shit (even though it sounded not so very unreasonable). What’s the point? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/16 "2006-04-22T18:13:44Z")
I’ll admit I’ve done the Good morning thing in the evening. Part of it, though, is that I can’t say Good Evening as a greeting without trying to Karloff it, which would be even stupider. Of course a simple, “Hello,” gets around the whole problem. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/17 "2006-04-23T01:55:08Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Yes, this falls under what I was talking about. It’s intentionally deceptive, and the only purpose is some sort of juvenile satisfaction that you trusted them when they were full of shit (even though it sounded not so very unreasonable). What’s the point? Exactly. I don’t understand why anyone would find it funny that you would believe them when they have quite seriously told you something completely believable. Am I supposed to go around distrusting \*anything \* anyone tells me, even when there is no motive to lie and no absurdity I’m having to swallow? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/18 "2006-04-23T02:42:34Z")
> [@Oy!](#): > > What pisses me off are people who tell you something not so very unreasonable, absolutely dead-pan, and then later seem to get off on your gullibility that you actually believed them. I’m not talking about seeing aliens land in Grovers’ Mills here, I’m talking about perfectly reasonable things that could quite readily be true. Why is it funny that you would believe them? Because the OP was set in a train station, the following scene popped into my head. Oy: Excuse me. Do you know when the next train to New Brunswick leaves? Stranger: Not for another hour. Oy: An hour? Darn. Oh well, thanks. Stranger: You really thought it was an hour? Har har har! It leaves in fifteen minutes! Boy, are you a dummy! (walks off guffawing) ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/19 "2006-04-23T02:50:37Z")
> [@Green Bean](#): > > Because the OP was set in a train station, the following scene popped into my head. > > Oy: Excuse me. Do you know when the next train to New Brunswick leaves? > > Stranger: Not for another hour. > > Oy: An hour? Darn. Oh well, thanks. > > Stranger: You really thought it was an hour? Har har har! It leaves in fifteen minutes! Boy, are you a dummy! (walks off guffawing) That’s not so far from what has actually happened to me as you might think. This is funny? Why? Btw, I’m not the OP. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733/20 "2006-04-23T03:13:04Z")
I admit I have at times done the deadpan delivery, plausible thing. This past April Fool’s Day I asked a coworker if she heard another coworker’s father had died, and when she went into Oh My God! mode I said in a really obnoxious way April Fools!!! But at least I did it on an appropriate day if nothing else, and she did laugh afterwards. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-say-deceptive-confusing-things-on-purpose-then-laugh/353733.md?page=2)