# Tell me about this very common joke type **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [January 4, 2021, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644 "2021-01-04T18:13:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lantern2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lantern2/32/3010_2.png) [@Lantern2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern2)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/1 "2021-01-04T18:13:34Z")
Here is an [example](https://twitter.com/edburmila/status/1345421727510261762) from Twitter : Someone said Josh Hawley had the charisma of a Moai statue and someone else replied: Harsh on Moai A type of joke you hear a million times but I admit it made me chuckle. The basic template: insult X by comparing it with Y and the punchline is that the real insult is to Y. Is there a name for this type of joke? When was it first used? What are famous examples or just ones you like? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/2 "2021-01-04T18:22:55Z")
TV Tropes calls it [**Insult to Rocks**](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InsultToRocks). ---
**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 4, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/3 "2021-01-04T18:25:15Z")
I don’t get it. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/4 "2021-01-04T19:20:09Z")
Not really a joke … Sardonic ? (a “sardonicism” ?) ---
**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:** [January 4, 2021, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/5 "2021-01-04T19:34:55Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I don’t get it. ☹ What part of it don’t you get? A [Moai statue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moai#/media/File:Moai_Rano_raraku.jpg) is one of those Easter Island statues that are completely expressionless and vacant. The insult is saying that Hawley is even more stone-faced than that. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lantern2/32/3010_2.png) [@Lantern2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern2)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/6 "2021-01-04T19:38:26Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > TV Tropes calls it [**Insult to Rocks**](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InsultToRocks). Ah thanks. TV Tropes is such a treasure; it nicely lists the different variants too. Doesn’t say where the trope originated though this one may be an early version: > [@](#): > > On one occasion, [Will Rogers](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/WillRogers) remarked: “A senator got up today in Congress and called his fellow senators sons of wild jackasses. Now, if you think the senators were hot, imagine how the jackasses must feel.” ---
**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 4, 2021, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/7 "2021-01-04T19:46:46Z")
I know about the statues, but how is “Harsh on Moai” anything other than a random collection of words? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/8 "2021-01-04T19:49:31Z")
It was **harsh** on the Moai statues to be compared to Josh Hawley. ---
**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 4, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/9 "2021-01-04T19:51:10Z")
Oh. Har-har-_har_-dee-har-har! 🥺 ---
**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:** [January 4, 2021, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/10 "2021-01-04T20:00:18Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > how is “Harsh on Moai” anything other than a random collection of words? Seems to me like “[That is] harsh on [the] Moai” is a pretty evident reading of those words. ---
**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 4, 2021, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/11 "2021-01-04T20:00:46Z")
Not to me it doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/12 "2021-01-04T20:11:37Z")
Ernest Hemingway never gets it. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/13 "2021-01-04T20:13:03Z")
“Harsh On” is just some hipster phrase my teenage daughter might use in a text message. The joke type is more common as: “He has the face of a wildebeast.” Response- “Hey now, there’s no reason to be insulting wildebeasts like that.” ---
**Author:** ![Scarlax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlax/32/2927_2.png) [@Scarlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlax)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/14 "2021-01-04T20:38:29Z")
I would call it a form of misdirection. The humor relies on the element of surprise. As such, you see it go from edgy to mainstream and in so doing, losing much of its potency when you can see it coming. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/15 "2021-01-04T21:49:31Z")
That’s an insult to getting it. Amidoinitrite? ---
**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 4, 2021, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/16 "2021-01-04T21:55:25Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Amidoinitrite? Yes… ---
**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 4, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/17 "2021-01-04T21:56:06Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > “Harsh On” is just some hipster phrase my teenage daughter might use in a text message. This information would have been more useful to me four hours ago. ---
**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 4, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/18 "2021-01-04T21:56:41Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Amidoinitrite? Dunno. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2021, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/19 "2021-01-05T01:44:57Z")
And there’s an even earlier example under “Theatre”: > In **Titus Andronicus** , Lavinia likens Tamora to the legendary queen Semiramis, who founded the infamously sinful city of Babylon and was associated with the lascivious goddess Ishtar of Mesopotamian mythology. Then Lavinia backtracks on this comparison, not considering it fair to Semiramis: > Ay, come, Semiramis — nay, barbarous Tamora, > For no name fits thy nature but thy own. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2021, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644/20 "2021-01-05T02:00:45Z")
harsh (adj.) Meaning “offensive to feelings” is from 1570s; that of “disagreeable, rude” from 1610s. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-very-common-joke-type/929644.md?page=2)