# that's what she (or he) said **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2020, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219 "2020-06-08T00:42:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/21 "2020-06-08T08:29:21Z")
People aren’t exactly jumping all over this thread with jokes, are they? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/22 "2020-06-08T10:21:37Z")
A) Even when I see the opportunity, I no longer feel the need to whip out the joke all the time. B) When I do that, it usually makes people groan. C) Every list needs at least three members. D) I always try to include at least four: help me everyone, try to think of a D. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/23 "2020-06-08T13:49:34Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > help me everyone, try to think of a D. That’s what she said. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2020, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/24 "2020-06-08T16:13:50Z")
It’s one of those things that can be funny, even extremely so, but only in the right context. And the right context can’t really be conveyed to a bunch of strangers after the fact. In order for it to be funny, you have to know the personalities of all those who were present, and the relationships between them, and see their reactions, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/25 "2020-06-08T17:33:15Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > Some history of the joke I just looked up. The Hitchcock clip is hilarious. > > [The Surprising Origin of "That's What She Said" - Thrillist](https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/origin-history-of-thats-what-she-said) I liked that the guy used the term “Wellerism” in his accompanying Youtube video. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/26 "2020-06-08T17:56:11Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > So everybody who has ever used this joke is an idiot? This is not the Pit so I can’t say what I think of you now. Are you the moderator of what is funny? What fucking nerve do you have to call me an idiot? Is P-man an idiot? Are any of the other people who will, I am sure, chime in with their own instances of using the joke, idiots? Are my colleagues at work who have made the joke idiots? Did you read anything I wrote after the OP, or did you just jump in with your, I am sorry, idiot’s opinion. Once again you don’t seem to be understanding what I wrote. I didn’t call you an idiot. I said that if you use it the way you said you were going to in the OP you would look like an idiot. And you asked for people’s opinions here. Now you don’t like ones that differ from yours. > [@](#): > > “That’s what she said” is funny, if done right. If you don’t think so, fine. Don’t insult people who don’t agree with your determination of what is funny. You didn’t say that if it’s done right, it’s funny. What you said was: > [@Mike Mabes](#): > > I am now trying to use it in every conceivable situation. This is the problem. I’ve used the joke myself on occasion. To be funny, it has to be in exactly the right context, as people have tried to explain to you. But personally, I use it mainly ironically, as a groaner, like a dad joke or an extremely bad pun. > [@](#): > > I am watching the Altman movie Nashville. Chatting about it with a friend on Facebook. I make a joke about looking forward to seeing the skeletal Shelly Duvall in her underwear again (she was scary thin). He says "Yikes! > > That’s what he said! Obviously your mileage varies greatly from mine. I don’t find this at all funny. It’s not even a real example of the joke. Basically, for the classic joke, you start off with a statement that doesn’t sound risque. By adding “That’s what he/she said,” you are pointing out that the statement can be taken another way, and making a double entendre. Your joke is a single entendre. Your friend reacts with horror, and then your hypothetical “he” reacts in exactly the same way. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/27 "2020-06-08T18:04:43Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > A) Even when I see the opportunity, I no longer feel the need to whip out the joke all the time. > B) When I do that, it usually makes people groan. > C) Every list needs at least three members. > D) I always try to include at least four: help me everyone, try to think of a D. > [@amarinth](#): > > That’s what she said. That’s what OpalCat said! ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/28 "2020-06-08T19:27:37Z")
You are right Colibri and I am sorry I misread your meaning. It doesn’t seem funny at all now. It was late and I had not gotten much sleep over the weekned. I became Michael Scott! ---
**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:** [June 8, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/29 "2020-06-08T19:48:21Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > You are right Colibri and I am sorry I misread your meaning. It doesn’t seem funny at all now. It was late and I had not gotten much sleep over the weekned. I became Michael Scott! See. That’s exactly my point. Michael Scott is funny because he doesn’t really know how to be funny. He’s socially oblivious. You don’t want to copy Michael Scott if you want to be actually funny. 😉 I think the joke can be funny in two instances. First, you find a new and unexpected double entendre to make. Something outlandish that has never been the subject of the joke before. These opportunities are rare. But it’s not funny if you just reflexively repeat it every time someone says “I found it hard” or “Gosh I’m hot.” Second, you can use it ironically, in an effort to be goofy. But it’s easy to overuse this. In any case you shouldn’t use it “on every possible occasion.” In that case you’ll end up like Michael Scott, and the only one who will laugh is Dwight.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/30 "2020-06-08T20:46:06Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > See. That’s exactly my point. Michael Scott is funny because he doesn’t really know how to be funny. He’s socially oblivious. You don’t want to copy Michael Scott if you want to be actually funny. 😉 > > I think the joke can be funny in two instances. First, you find a new and unexpected double entendre to make. Something outlandish that has never been the subject of the joke before. These opportunities are rare. But it’s not funny if you just reflexively repeat it every time someone says “I found it hard” or “Gosh I’m hot.” > > Second, you can use it ironically, in an effort to be goofy. But it’s easy to overuse this. In any case you shouldn’t use it “on every possible occasion.” In that case you’ll end up like Michael Scott, and the only one who will laugh is Dwight.😉 to continue beating this dead joke to death, when I wrote the OP I didn’t think about it much, I just threw it out there. I said “That’s what he said” in response to my friend saying “Yikes.” But that is exactly what he said, my “joke” was the opposite of a joke. Wish I could say I meant it ironically at the time. Using the joke ironically as Michael Scott could work, except most people would not know you are being ironic. I’m going to treat this joke the way a lot of people treat the pronunciation of “banal.” They use another word so as to avoid a discussion of the proper pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/31 "2020-06-08T20:58:47Z")
A perfect example just came up in a work email. Client says “I will be make sure to poke a bit to get an answer as soon as possible.” Now of course I would never make that obvious joke to a client, or anyone for that matter. It is too obvious. But let’s just assume I lived in a world where it woul be OK to make that joke to a client. I would do it ironically, because Michael Scott would have made the joke. But she probabaly would not have taken it that way, I would have to say, "As Michael Scott would say, “That’s what he said.” But if you explain a joke, it’s not funny. I remember Alan Swan in “My Favorite Year”, quoting an English actor - "Dying is easy, comedy is hard. " Irony is even harder. No joke. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/32 "2020-06-08T21:01:11Z")
A perfect example just came up in a work email. Client says “I will be make sure to poke a bit to get an answer as soon as possible.” Now of course I would never make that obvious joke to a client, or anyone for that matter. It is too obvious. But let’s just assume I lived in a world where it woul be OK to make that joke to a client. I would do it ironically, because Michael Scott would have made the joke. But she probabaly would not have taken it that way, I would have to say, "As Michael Scott would say, thinking he is being funny, “That’s what he said.” But if you explain a joke, it’s not funny. I remember Alan Swan in “My Favorite Year”, quoting an English actor - "Dying is easy, comedy is hard. " Irony is even harder. No joke. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/33 "2020-06-08T21:55:23Z")
At work I use it for every response, just in case. “Oh damn, the photocopier is buggered up again” “That’s what she said!” ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/34 "2020-06-08T22:07:12Z")
I’ve used it a jillion times not so much because it happens every day, but because I’m old. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/35 "2020-06-08T22:54:49Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I think the joke can be funny in two instances. First, you find a new and unexpected double entendre to make. Something outlandish that has never been the subject of the joke before. These opportunities are rare. My last one came a few months ago when I passed an ad for a stump-removal service, and above the phone number was the text: “Need a grinder?” A rare “that’s what HE said!” opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/36 "2020-06-08T23:15:16Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > This thread is reminding me of that line in The Big Chill. “Don’t you have any other music, say, from this century?” > > Well, other than a couple of Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile, and Wilco albums, not much. > > I used to keep up on all the latest music, I have over 15,000 songs, but sometime in the early 2000s I stopped buying new stuff. > > And now I find I am posting about a joke that has been around for decades. Even in the modern world, 14 years since it became popular in the US. And as I am reading here, there are now jokes about the joke. > > What happened to the cool me? Well, I am sure I will be a laugh riot once they put me into the old folks home. I had someone use that line on me: “Don’t you like any new bands?” My reply: “Well, those Traveling Willburys are kind of good.” ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/37 "2020-06-08T23:28:46Z")
Trump: We should just shoot all the protesters! Me: That’s what Xi said. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219/38 "2020-06-08T23:43:45Z")
It works well for huge assholes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-what-she-or-he-said/855219.md?page=1)