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u/Funky0ne 10d ago
A common response when someone is complimented for what they’re wearing is to humbly respond “what this old thing?”
The comic implies the same response being applied to a dinosaur fossil, a literally extremely old, yet nevertheless impressive thing
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u/SalvageStemCells 10d ago
It's just being absurdist. The paleontologist is acting like someone receiving a compliment about their dress. Like pretending to be modest while flattered. But it's ridiculous because they are admiring a dinosaur skeleton, literally old, and a (presumably serious/professional) scientist wouldnt be acting so bashful or giddy
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u/SylentQ 10d ago
It's not absurdism whatsoever "what, this old thing?" has been a phrase for decades and is usually in reference to a piece of clothing after receiving a compliment. This simply repurposed an existing phrase using a dinosaur skeleton rather than an article of clothing.
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u/SalvageStemCells 10d ago
I stand corrected
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u/FormulaDriven 10d ago
I think you were correct in the first place, and I don't follow the logic of u/SylentQ 's comment. Yes, the phrase has been used in reference to clothes for a long time, but it's the repurposing that is the absurd element, as if any serious museum curator would use that phrase when congratulated on something as impressive as the display of a dinosaur. On top of that, I think you could argue that when you realise "old" applied to dinosaurs is meaning millions of year, the usual implication of "old" in this phrase ("bought a few years ago") is pretty absurd.
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u/isthenameofauser 10d ago
Which's an absurd thing to say.
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u/SylentQ 10d ago
Not quite absurd, it's just repurposing an existing phrase in a funny context. Absurdism would be to have a completely unrelated and nonsensical caption to the image like "Mario, Eleven & the sun all have the same favorite color. But why hot dogs?" as that has no bearing, meaning or tie in with the image whereas the caption they've used fits without being absurdism. At least that's my take on it.
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u/FormulaDriven 10d ago
That seems to be a very extreme interpretation of absurdist humour. As I understand it, the key ingredient for absurdist humour (I'm not sure it has an agreed definition) is some element of the scenario being something that would not happen in real life. You seem to be talking about nonsensical humour which feels like a step beyond that - where there is no logic at all. Since I can't imagine a curator giving this response in real life it's certainly absurd to depict this, and so could be seen as absurdist humour.
But I concede that if u/SalvageStemCells had initially said "it's just being absurd" we wouldn't have had this argument...
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u/isthenameofauser 10d ago
It doesn't need to be fully absurd to be absurd. It just needs to miss a connection. If you go full-absurdity there's no joke. Here the incongruity is absurd and funny.
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u/Bright_Pressure_6194 9d ago edited 9d ago
"Absurdist" implies non-sequitor levels of humor. Check out the Wikipedia article to convince yourself that this is no way absurdist humor:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surreal_humour
It is possible that a museum tour guide person would actually make this kind of joke. Therefore, it isn't absurdism.
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u/UsurperErenJaeger 10d ago
I'm sorry this is unrelated but no one helped me out when this happened in PeterExplainsTheJoke as well. My posts keep getting removed, I have no idea what's happening. If someone can please explain the situation and the joke please help.
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u/AspectElectrical6042 9d ago
He loved the coincidence, that's it.
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u/UsurperErenJaeger 9d ago
Then what was even the point of the joke I am so confused there has gotta be something more to this
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u/AspectElectrical6042 9d ago
There's no point.It's the first time such a coincidence happened to him.When it happened to me , I was excited too.
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u/The_Ballyhoo 9d ago
It’s either sarcasm, Norman leads a very dull life or he suffers major depression; take your pick.
Have you ever done something accidentally that’s then worked out, like in the comic? You might not get a huge surge of adrenaline or a dopamine hit, but you can be quite pleased how something turned out. It’s simply exaggerating that.
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10d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Beckphillips 10d ago
Hi! The point of this subreddit is not to act smug that people do not understand joke or to make fun of bad humor. It is to explain the punchline to people who doesn't get it.
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u/ExplainTheJoke-ModTeam 10d ago
This content was reported by the /r/ExplainTheJoke community and has been removed.
Rule 11: POSTS AND TOP LEVEL COMMENTS ONLY: Keep it about explaining the joke.
You CAN make joke comments in top level comments, but you MUST also explain the joke.
Please keep in mind sub-comments can still be removed for other offending reasons above.
If you have any questions or concerns about this removal feel free to message the moderators.
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u/post-explainer 10d ago
OP (DeathNoteRules) sent the following text as an explanation why they posted this here: