# The old man the boat. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 5, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071 "2017-10-05T22:37:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/21 "2017-10-06T15:20:47Z")
I think the word “moped” (either the past tense of to mope, or an electrified bicycle) could be useful in sentences of this sort. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/22 "2017-10-06T15:41:52Z")
Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/23 "2017-10-06T16:12:45Z")
I saw a horse in my pajamas. Or something like that; I’m too lazy to look it up. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/24 "2017-10-06T17:43:14Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > I think the word “moped” (either the past tense of to mope, or an electrified bicycle) could be useful in sentences of this sort. When I was a kid I read a set of mystery stories about a pair of teenage detectives that allowed the reader to try to guess the “Who done it and how?” part of the story. One of the antagonists in many of the stories always road a moped, and I remember clearly always reading it as “The past tense of mope”. Dumbstruck when I found out later :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/25 "2017-10-06T19:08:59Z")
From “Alison” by Elvis Costello: I don’t know if you’ve been loving somebody/I only know it isn’t mine ---
**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:** [October 6, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/26 "2017-10-06T19:24:37Z")
> [@](#): > > “The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families.” This one was perfectly clear to me, and in fact it took me a moment to figure out what the unclear meaning was. While “complex houses”, meaning domiciles which are complicated, is a perfectly valid construction, it’s not one which comes up very often. Housing complexes, however, does. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/27 "2017-10-06T20:03:58Z")
It’s in the “I ran the kids to school this morning” sense, referring to those particular kids, “the Kids[that were] ran to school got there late” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/28 "2017-10-06T23:40:57Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I saw a horse in my pajamas. > > Or something like that; I’m too lazy to look it up. 🙂 I think the horse would object to that. (Pro-tip: Most horses are probably stronger than you.) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/29 "2017-10-06T23:50:12Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I saw a horse in my pajamas. This, of course, is isomorphic with the famous quip: > [@Groucho](#): > > One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I’ll > never know. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2017, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/30 "2017-10-07T00:27:08Z")
Thank you. I was trying to quote Groucho’s setup line but knew I was trashing it instead. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2017, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/31 "2017-10-07T00:41:26Z")
Groucho also gave us _“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.”_ which plays off two different uses of the word “had”. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2017, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/32 "2017-10-07T01:00:37Z")
Newspapers are famous for doing this. Famous example: British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands. British liberals equivocated regarding the matter of the Falkland Islands. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/33 "2017-10-07T02:31:50Z")
I think the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post are especially in the habit putting puns and double-entendres, etc., into their headlines. But yeah, you see a lot of that everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2017, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/34 "2017-10-07T06:50:10Z")
The man who hunts ducks out on weekends. They painted the wall with cracks. That Jane is never here hurts. The nurse gave the girl the dog bit a bandaid. The prime number few. The dog that I had really loved… …bones. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/35 "2017-10-13T15:17:16Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Groucho also gave us _“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.”_ which plays off two different uses of the word “had”. Huh? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071/36 "2017-10-13T17:32:41Z")
The two meanings of had are something that just occurred and something that occurred at some point in the past. Usually you can tell which meaning is intended by the context. If you ask somebody _“Do you want to go grab some lunch?”_ and they say _“No, I had some donuts.”_ you understand that they mean they ate donuts that day and not that they ate donuts a year ago. That’s the double meaning Groucho based his joke on. When he said _“I had a perfectly wonderful evening”_ you think he’s using the first sense of had and is referring to the current evening. But then he clarifies his meaning by adding _“this wasn’t it”_ which shows he was using the second meaning of had and that the wonderful evening he had occurred some time in the past. The humor comes from his ability to use the double meaning to change an apparent compliment into an insult. The relevance to this thread comes from the expectation that the line was using one meaning and the reveal that it was using a different one. And, kids, remember: jokes are always funnier when you explain them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-man-the-boat/798071.md?page=1)