# Rayh and Lady in Red, your 'joke' wasn't funny. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 13, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666 "2008-10-13T02:56:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/21 "2008-10-13T14:30:42Z")
> [@Dead\_Badger](#): > > Well, I certainly don’t think it’s trolling, but for a joke to be a joke it’s usually a good idea to allow people a chance (just a chance, mind) of working out what the blithering fuck is going on. Otherwise you’re not joking _with_ them, you’re playing a joke _on_ them. Also, a primary requirement for a joke is that it be, you know… funny. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/22 "2008-10-13T14:32:12Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > How DO you make a man grovel without use of the words love and sorry? Half a blowjob will do it. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/23 "2008-10-13T14:46:14Z")
I was just surprised nobody was told not to modify text while quoting another poster; something that InvisibleWombat [warned me about](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10254655&postcount=228) after I made, and noted, a minor spelling correction to one of Maatorc’s incoherent posts. And, the “groveling” thread OP certainly seems like trolling to me (besides giving me a headache to read). ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/24 "2008-10-13T14:47:35Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Half a blowjob will do it. Only if it’s the first half. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/25 "2008-10-13T15:23:55Z")
> [@Dead\_Badger](#): > > Well, I certainly don’t think it’s trolling, but for a joke to be a joke it’s usually a good idea to allow people a chance (just a chance, mind) of working out what the blithering fuck is going on. Otherwise you’re not joking _with_ them, you’re playing a joke _on_ them. I don’t think it’s trolling, either, since **The Lady In Red** ’s writing was just as atrocious in her previous posts. Yes, folks, she really writes like that. I do think it might have been dragging offboard relationship stuff on board, which is against the rules, unwritten or not, enough to have gotten \*\*inkleberry \*\*and **Dr. Love Gun** banned (or maybe only one of them was banned and the other left?) Or it might just have been one of those weird jokey things ill communicated: LiR (mock anger): For that, you need to do some groveling, mister! R (grinning): Oh, yeah? How you gonna make me grovel? Lir (shakes a dainty fist under his nose): I don’t know, but when I figure it out… R (laughs): Why don’t you ask the Dopers? I bet they could come up with some great groveling inducers! And the thing is, he’d be right. It could have been a really fun, over the top, somebody page \*\*Skald \*\*kind of thread. But because we couldn’t understand what was expected of us, we couldn’t deliver. And this, boys and girls, is why good writing is important. We’re talking about banning people instead of joking about sharks with laser beams and dogs barking bees because someone couldn’t follow writing conventions closely enough to make herself understood. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/26 "2008-10-13T15:31:19Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I don’t think it’s trolling, either, since **The Lady In Red** ’s writing was just as atrocious in her previous posts. I don’t think it was trolling because of the bad writing. I think it was trolling for the reasons that Dex and Frank stated upthread: creating a false situation and posting it in an obnoxious way to get reactions. rayh admitted that was exactly what they did. What wound up happening is that the content of LiR’s post did not garner the reaction so much as the form of it, which means she trolled for one response and got another, which I think ticked her off, hence the lashing out. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/27 "2008-10-13T17:19:14Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Or it might just have been one of those weird jokey things ill communicated: > > LiR (mock anger): For that, you need to do some groveling, mister! > R (grinning): Oh, yeah? How you gonna make me grovel? > Lir (shakes a dainty fist under his nose): I don’t know, but when I figure it out… > R (laughs): Why don’t you ask the Dopers? I bet they could come up with some great groveling inducers! > [@Rubystreak](#): > > I don’t think it was trolling because of the bad writing. I think it was trolling for the reasons that Dex and Frank stated upthread: creating a false situation and posting it in an obnoxious way to get reactions. If the situation were as **WhyNot** posted it, would you still think it’s trolling? I don’t think she meant to be obnoxious or to get a rise out of people with a false situation. I think she either can’t tell a joke or can’t write or both. But it doesn’t mean she approached the situation with malicious intent. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/28 "2008-10-13T17:22:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **Autolycus** > > _makes me angrier than the sun in Super Mario 2._ I love you.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/29 "2008-10-13T17:23:32Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > I don’t think it was trolling because of the bad writing. I think it was trolling for the reasons that Dex and Frank stated upthread: creating a false situation and posting it in an obnoxious way to get reactions. rayh admitted that was exactly what they did. What wound up happening is that the content of LiR’s post did not garner the reaction so much as the form of it, which means she trolled for one response and got another, which I think ticked her off, hence the lashing out. To be fair, there was at least as much disgruntlement/outrage at the idea of “making” your SO grovel as there was at the shitty writing. Since there was no way for someone not in-the-know to know that they were joking, people naturally assumed that she was serious and wanted to play some seriously fucked up head games with her partner. And honestly, I don’t think someone has to “intend” to troll to succeed in doing so. There’s a lot of drama queens (of both genders) out there who provoke/manipulate the people around them as a matter of course, and if you call them on it they are so trapped in their own head that they have _no idea_ why you’re upset with them. That doesn’t mean we should just give that kind of behavior a pass. Calling them out (repeatedly and _ad nauseum_) may be the only way to pound it into their skulls. (It still may not work, but it definitely won’t if no one ever tries… plus no one should just sit around and let someone mistreat them.) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/30 "2008-10-13T17:40:30Z")
Isn’t the angry sun in Super Mario 3? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/31 "2008-10-13T17:44:04Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Isn’t the angry sun in Super Mario 3? Faith and begorrah, you’re right! I have brought dishonor upon myself… ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/32 "2008-10-13T17:46:14Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Isn’t the angry sun in Super Mario 3? Nope. [Angry sun](http://skullkids.co.uk/cnews/data/upimages/angrysun2.png). 😃 Still not as creepy as the leering moon-thing or whatever it was in Zelda… ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/33 "2008-10-13T17:49:13Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > Nope. [Angry sun](http://skullkids.co.uk/cnews/data/upimages/angrysun2.png). 😃 > > Still not as creepy as the leering moon-thing or whatever it was in Zelda… But that picture is from SMB3! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/34 "2008-10-13T17:49:46Z")
For some reason reading that thread kind of reminded me of this: > [@](#): > > First of all i apologise for not being on here,i do pop on to take a look Reminds herself (must be more active on here )I have a problem and need some suggestions on how to make a man grovel not just a sorry but to hear him grovel so far hes not been any good at it,he knows who he is Comes from the place where sheep are in uk ,must admit he did try groveilling for over an hour last night,but didnt work why because i banned any words of love and the sorry word,think hes feeling a bit sheepish now ,he wrote on a thread here once that he was romancing a lady in her 40s who was never very adventurous in her previous marraige,i read it and wrote an email to him telling him off about it plus a few more things were said,so before im bedridden with this stupid flu bug i would really like to hear him grovel so any suggestions to him would be welcome,come on Rayh own up you need help bad,opps let his name slip > > Vl AG rgr RA $ 1, 26 !!! > > See youve all been busy in the night,Purple Haze your writing looks identical to mine cant see any difference in them,A message to all do not judge people before you know the facts,Or is that the way you all do it.As for my relashionship with Rayh maybe he might tell you.And as i cant add a pic on here if i did it would be im a breast cancer survivour and proud of it.As its October i was going to start a thread on this subject but glad i didnt as you would all turn that into a joke.and as for the one about people in wheel chairs maybe one day you will end up in one,I work in a home for the elderly a lot are in wheel chairs do they complain no they are great people.And do not class me as another Palin.Want to know more about me.Right i have 2 wonderfull daughters and a 3 yr old grandson whom i adore,i work in a job i love and love all my old people even the ones in wheelchairs or disabled,so jokes about them dont go down very well with me.I was in an abusive marraige for 28 years,but having cancer made me stronger,maybe now some of you might say she should have died sorry to dissapoint you but i fought back and with a positive outlook hope im here for a few more years.Im Not agressive never have been life has taught me not to be but if someone puts things about me then i will argue,as name calling is a kids game.So maybe some of you should grow up a bit (ohh bet that doesnt go down well)if you want to call me more names go ahead Anyone else thought we were being spammed for grovel pills? ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/35 "2008-10-13T17:57:08Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Or it might just have been one of those weird jokey things ill communicated: > > LiR (mock anger): For that, you need to do some groveling, mister! > R (grinning): Oh, yeah? How you gonna make me grovel? > Lir (shakes a dainty fist under his nose): I don’t know, but when I figure it out… > R (laughs): Why don’t you ask the Dopers? I bet they could come up with some great groveling inducers! This is along the lines of how I read it, although I didn’t get a sense that they’d even planned starting the thread together. My initial read on it was that they’d had their little jokey back and forth, which inspired **The Lady in Red** to later start the thread, then **Rayh** came back from his weekend outing and discovered it and jumped in to give some background on behalf of his illiterate wife, who was now spending all her time explaining why punctuation and grammar are actually optional. It didn’t strike me as dragging personal business onto the boards, since the thread itself wasn’t putting us in the middle of an actual real-life argument between them, but merely a topic inspired by a real-life argument/playful dispute. It also didn’t strike me as trolling, since the two weren’t deliberately deceiving us by enacting some fake argument on the boards that they’d later come back and admit to having pulled our legs. It just seemed like a dumb thread, written by an illiterate, that happened to have been inspired by another Doper in real life. Had her husband not been a Doper, I don’t think there’d have been any questions of trolling. Just, you know, illiteracy. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/36 "2008-10-13T18:05:17Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > If the situation were as **WhyNot** posted it, would you still think it’s trolling? I don’t think she meant to be obnoxious or to get a rise out of people with a false situation. I think she either can’t tell a joke or can’t write or both. But it doesn’t mean she approached the situation with malicious intent. I have no idea what the intent was, really, except from what they said… they “wanted to have a little fun” by posting something obnoxious. Was it supposed to be fun for everyone, or just fun for them as they watched people react? Did she humorously ask for suggestions about how to make a person grovel, or was she trying to pull chains and get people in a tizzy? I wish I could tell, but her communication style is such that I couldn’t even be bothered reading most of it. I have always found it lame when people respond to people’s reactions to their obnoxiousness with, “Oh, can’t you just take a joke?!? You have NO sense of humor!” One would think rayh has been around long enough to realize, once he’d seen her post, that the reactions she got were appropos, considering. But I don’t care all that much, so if the mods think it’s fine, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/37 "2008-10-13T23:06:31Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > Isn’t posting something you know is obnoxious just to get a reaction from people the definition of trolling? I didn’t read it that way - I thought she was saying she posted it as a joke OP, hoping for joke responses - a joke thread in its entirety. I still think the whole thing was a quivering heap of steaming shite, but I don’t think trolling was actually admitted. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/38 "2008-10-13T23:14:10Z")
I couldn’t cut through the dense thicket of “prose” to find her meaning and soon gave up. I’m sure she’s great fun at parties. :dubious: I have a more salient question: is someone with such poor grammar and punctuation skills wanted here? I blench at the thought of wading through her ellipses and e. e. cummings imitations. Can it be troll by proxy and out goes she? (please? I don’t ask for much.) ---
**Author:** ![Rascal\_s\_Mom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Rascal\_s\_Mom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rascal_s_Mom)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/39 "2008-10-13T23:23:41Z")
Does anyone know what **The Lady in Red** does for a living? Because it hit me today at work that she SURE couldn’t hold down a job involving either typing OR computers, not to mention the fact that she doesn’t even sound borderline articulate/literate, a point which has been made already. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666/40 "2008-10-13T23:45:15Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > Nope. [Angry sun](http://skullkids.co.uk/cnews/data/upimages/angrysun2.png). 😃 That’s from SMB3. See [here](http://www.mariowiki.com/Angry_Sun). \*\*Auto \*\*loses a point for messing up his pop culture reference. Back on topic, I don’t give a shit if LiR is trolling or not, but if I got an email from a friend that read like that I’d beat them with a sockful of coins until they promised to punctuate correctly. I mean, really, who channels Faulkner in a message board post? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rayh-and-lady-in-red-your-joke-wasnt-funny/467666.md?page=3)