# Would this prank bother any of you? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 26, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680 "2005-01-26T01:46:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/81 "2005-01-30T21:52:45Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > If you did this to me because you thought it funny, I’d be a good sport and laugh along with you. Then I’d put you in a burlap sack and beat you with an aluminum softball bat until I was too tired to swing any more, because I’d think funny. I’d expect you to be a good sport and laugh along with me. I dunno. It sounds funny in theory, but when I play this joke no one ever gets it. > [@Wesley Clark](#): > > Feel free to pit me sheep. I haven’t been pitted yet and i’m looking forward to it > [@Wesley Clark](#): > > Yeah, I crave the protection and support of people like you. I just hope you are a shoulder to cry on when life gets me down. > > Babies. The fun thing about Wesley Clark is how pathetic and defensive he becomes as soon as anyone disagrees with him. It’s like an 8-year-old kid sobbing that he doesn’t care what the other kids think. It’s just so obviously untrue that it’s really sad. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/82 "2005-01-30T22:38:29Z")
This reminds me of something my ex-boyfriend did at his school, long before I knew him or we got together: [http://www.nothingisreal.com/saga/](http://www.nothingisreal.com/saga/) Long story short: He and his buddies convinced one of their schoolmates to ask an AI program out on a date. He was convinced it was a real person. It was kind of mean, but terribly funny. Incidentally, I found that website through [cruel.com](http://cruel.com) and that’s how I found my ex and started talking to him. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/83 "2005-01-30T23:17:17Z")
If he’s a real stiffley stifferson, you could always prank him to death with a tire iron… zowie wowie blammo! ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/84 "2005-01-31T00:32:09Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > The fun thing about Wesley Clark is how pathetic and defensive he becomes as soon as anyone disagrees with him. It’s like an 8-year-old kid sobbing that he doesn’t care what the other kids think. It’s just so obviously untrue that it’s really sad. Look, you’re an asshole. I honestly do not care if an asshole doesn’t like me. Pretend i’m just hiding my true feelings if you want. My ‘babies’ comment was because I thought people understood that it was not a malicious prank being played on a stranger. I thought people were overreacting and yeah people get defensive when other people line up to insult them. Its human nature. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/85 "2005-01-31T02:20:03Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > Look, you’re an asshole. I honestly do not care if an asshole doesn’t like me. Pretend i’m just hiding my true feelings if you want. > > My ‘babies’ comment was because I thought people understood that it was not a malicious prank being played on a stranger. I thought people were overreacting and yeah people get defensive when other people line up to insult them. Its human nature. Then next time don’t ask for our opinions. Your “babies” comment sounds like something my nine year old cousin would say. Grow the fuck up, **Wesley**. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/86 "2005-01-31T02:30:48Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Then next time don’t ask for our opinions. > > Your “babies” comment sounds like something my nine year old cousin would say. Grow the fuck up, **Wesley**. Don’t bother trying, Guin. Just watch and be amused. I mean, this guy is so bereft of normal intelligence that he can’t even master the use of the question mark. No, really. Do a user search on threads he’s started, and look at the titles. It’s quite amazing, in that oh-my-God-the-school-system’s-shot-to-hell sorta way. ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/87 "2005-01-31T03:02:16Z")
When I was in high school, some of the ridders/cowboys decided to play such a prank on one of their group, who happened to be short (about 5’2"). They picked me for the other half of their ‘joke’ because I’m shorter (4’10"). For a few weeks, they’d keep hinting to me how much he liked me, and hinting to him how much I liked him. I think they were cruder than that to him. Anyway, the final outcome was that he, feeling cornered, yelled at me in front of a lot of people how butt-ugly he thought I was. And of course they all laughed, and ribbed him about it, and told me they were just _joking_. Funny, neither he nor I laughed. I don’t laugh, 20 years later. It wasn’t funny. It was cruel, it was brutal, it was hurtful. **Wesley** failed entirely to describe his situation accurately, and we, naturally, cannot read his mind. There was no indication that he was friends with this fellow, and yet he says this: > [@](#): > > “My ‘babies’ comment was because I thought people understood that it was not a malicious prank being played on a stranger.” I have no idea how we were expected to get this understanading from the original post. Wesley, I’m glad you see now why it can be a bad idea, and have decided not to do it. It’s really a bad idea. Matters of the heart cut far, far too deeply to assume someone else will laugh with you. Why not make a prank where you invent an entire relationship with a girl who supposedly likes you, complete with pictures, faked emails or IMs, etc, and get your buddy in on it and make him think it’s real, and then eventually reveal that it’s all been manufactured? That would be funny, and since it’s at your own expense and not his, you can both laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/88 "2005-01-31T04:04:05Z")
> [@Chotii](#): > > Wesley, I’m glad you see now why it can be a bad idea, and have decided not to do it. It’s really a bad idea. Matters of the heart cut far, far too deeply to assume someone else will laugh with you. Why not make a prank where you invent an entire relationship with a girl who supposedly likes you, complete with pictures, faked emails or IMs, etc, and get your buddy in on it and make him think it’s real, and then eventually reveal that it’s all been manufactured? That would be funny, and since it’s at your own expense and not his, you can both laugh. The strange part is that it does sound like a vaguely funny prank in the abstract sense, even to me (if not a particularly good one). Then I imagined how it would be to be on the other end of it - I can’t imagine how humiliating it would be. I guess I don’t think abusing your friends is that much nicer than abusing random strangers. I certainly hope I never get to know Wesley Clark here in real life, because who knows what would befall me as a result? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/89 "2005-01-31T04:29:32Z")
> [@Abbie Carmichael](#): > > I think it’s a really shitty thing to do, whether the guy is a friend of yours or not. If you do it, don’t come crying when you get your ass kicked. > > Sheesh! Your life must be pretty empty if you sit around thinking up cruel things to do to people. Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/90 "2005-01-31T04:38:13Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > Pfffft. So my pranks aren’t ‘creative’ enough (thats the best insult people can come up with I guess) eh? How about this. > > I send him an email pretending to be his father who walked out on him when he was 2. I say ‘I miss you and want to see you, meet me at the park’, etc. etc. etc. Then when he at the park and nobody is there to meet him I drive by and take pictures. I mail him the pictures pretending to be his dad saying “I was going to meet you but after I saw you I decided I made the right decision 22 years ago”. THen i’d post some [mr. yuck](http://rileychildrenshospital.com/images/pic_mr_yuck.gif) stickers over his face on the pictures. That should be funny as hell. > > And I could also always ‘accidentally’ set his hair on fire. > > -Wesley “class clown” Clark Now this- THIS I can get behind! Well done!! ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/91 "2005-01-31T05:59:53Z")
I learned this lesson the hard way. Before playing a practical joke, you must be able to say with 99.9% certainty that, when the joke is revealed, the person will find it funny. In order to have the requisite knowledge on which to base this conclusion, don’t play practical jokes on people you’ve known less than 10 years. I played one on a very, very good friend I’d known only 3 years. It was the mildest practical joke I’d ever played and had virtually zero chance of embarrassing her publicly. The friend turned out not to be the type that likes having those jokes played on her–even though she has a fabulous sense of humor otherwise. The apologies she insisted on handing out made the whole matter very public and very embarrassing for both of us, and ended up embarrassing another person, too. We didn’t speak for several months after that. Fortunately, we were eventually able to patch things up. On the other hand, if you’re hoping to make the guy uncomfortable as the end result, just don’t do it. Practical jokes are only funny when everyone, including the target, laughs about it afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/92 "2005-01-31T06:04:25Z")
> [@Q.N. Jones](#): > > On the other hand, if you’re hoping to make the guy uncomfortable as the end result, just don’t do it. Practical jokes are only funny when everyone, including the target, laughs about it afterwards. Forgot to add: I get the idea that you intend only to make the target of the joke unhappy or mad. This does not make you a joker–it makes you a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/93 "2005-01-31T06:06:00Z")
> [@Q.N. Jones](#): > > I learned this lesson the hard way. > > Before playing a practical joke, you must be able to say with 99.9% certainty that, when the joke is revealed, the person will find it funny. In order to have the requisite knowledge on which to base this conclusion, don’t play practical jokes on people you’ve known less than 10 years. > > I played one on a very, very good friend I’d known only 3 years. It was the mildest practical joke I’d ever played and had virtually zero chance of embarrassing her publicly. > > The friend turned out not to be the type that likes having those jokes played on her–even though she has a fabulous sense of humor otherwise. The apologies she insisted on handing out made the whole matter very public and very embarrassing for both of us, and ended up embarrassing another person, too. We didn’t speak for several months after that. Fortunately, we were eventually able to patch things up. > > On the other hand, if you’re hoping to make the guy uncomfortable as the end result, just don’t do it. Practical jokes are only funny when everyone, including the target, laughs about it afterwards. Can I ask for the story, or would you rather not rehash it? You’ve really got my curiousity piqued. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/94 "2005-01-31T16:46:43Z")
Years ago I teased my officemate about her racy phone call with “Raoul” (actually her husband). Turns out that **was** her pet name for him! ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/95 "2005-01-31T17:09:48Z")
Considering I don’t know your friend or your relationship with him, I couldn’t possibly fathom how I could give you any advice on this. For certain friendships, funny, for others, cruel. For certain people it will be taken as a joke, for others as mean-spirited and hurtful. I would guess though, that if you are unsure and feel you need to ask folks on the SDMB, it is probably a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/96 "2005-01-31T18:24:00Z")
Young Mr. Clark, this prank is fairly low on the PC scale. I’d suggest that you mix his paper and plastic recyclables together, that’s always good for a hoot. If you are more daring, swap his shampoo for one that has been tested on animals. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/97 "2005-02-05T23:59:58Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Then next time don’t ask for our opinions. > > Your “babies” comment sounds like something my nine year old cousin would say. Grow the fuck up, **Wesley**. I asked for your opinions, and yes I wanted them. Alot of people here gave opinions and weren’t assholes about it, and some were. The ones that were assholes I attacked back. Alot of people like (to name a few of many) Jinwicked or Tenar gave an opinion w/o being a dick about it or without overtly or covertly calling me an idiot, baby, asshole, etc. Can you people seriously not tell the difference between being assholes and giving opinions? How do you function in society if you honestly cannot? Jesus, if someone asked me why they couldn’t solve a physics problem and I said to them ‘probably because you’re a fucking idiot’ I am not naive enough to think I am just giving my opinion and if they get mad at me its because they can’t handle opinions. You seriously need to grow up if you can’t see that, and I don’t mean that as an insult. I don’t really want to flame war on this subject anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/98 "2005-02-06T00:02:37Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > I certainly hope I never get to know Wesley Clark here in real life, because who knows what would befall me as a result? I wouldn’t allow that to happen, and I feel the same way about meeting some of you people. We’re both safe. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/99 "2005-02-06T00:30:48Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > I don’t really want to flame war on this subject anymore. Then why did you resurrect this thread five days after it died an overdue and much-welcome death? Let it go, already. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/100 "2005-02-06T07:03:22Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > I wouldn’t allow that to happen, and I feel the same way about meeting some of you people. We’re both safe. Huh? Am I having an acid flashback or did we finish this discussion days and days ago? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680.md?page=4)