Tell me a joke! The OF humor thread [No politics]

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As societies become increasingly "Orwellian", the joke, which is absurd superficially, also contains an undercurrent of tension, because such an event no longer seems quite as absurd as it might have been 20 years ago.

My daughter had a boy in her class named "Waymond." She had a speech issue so we corrected her and said, you mean Raymond, honey.

But she was correct, his name was "Waymond."

He was named about 22 years ago, but unfortunately I suspect this kind of thing is still going on. His parents could have benefited from an intervention of this sort.
 
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He was named about 22 years ago, but unfortunately I suspect this kind of thing is still going on. His parents could have benefited from an intervention of this sort.

This sort of thing has been going on for much longer than that in the U.S. When I was in High School, 50 years ago 😲, a few of my contemporary students had names that were variations of more traditional names. They were virtually all African American.

Broadly speaking, these distinctive names were not a result of ignorance, or innocent misspellings. They began to proliferate during the civil rights and growing Black Power movement era, and were arguably a reflection of a desire on the part of African Americans to further break away from the roots of slavery, when names were often assigned. So rather than adopting common names derived from white ancestry, they began to create their own.

Of course today one can find many more examples of non-traditional names, and not only in the African American community. Perhaps it is partly a reflection of hyper-American individuality.

This is why I stand by my original interpretation of the cartoon that I posted, and disagree with Archer's view. I suspect that the cartoonist was commenting on extreme Government intrusion into people's lives, rather than "misspellings" of names, as the vast majority of such names are not actually misspelled.
Edited:
 
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Working at an international airport….

The spelling of some names is endless. Men’s and Women’s

And the general names of people have made me look at a passport several times.

Single names are very popular lately. For young ones.

Had a little old bloke in his late 70s the other day “John Wick”
Said “have a good day Mr Wick” cheekily and he went on to tell me Singapore let him go straight through also… he said he has watched the movies and gets the comments often 😁
 
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Years ago, I managed a jewellery store and we issued marriage licenses. We were required to record the names of the parents of each of the two registrants. On one occasion, I issued a license to a couple, the father of the girl’s first name was Hilarius!
 
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This is why I stand by my original interpretation of the cartoon that I posted, and disagree with Archer's view. I suspect that the cartoonist was commenting on extreme Government intrusion into people's lives, rather than "misspellings" of names, as the vast majority of such names are not actually misspelled.

The cartoon implies that governments are forcing people (or trying) to use traditional names, right? Again, the number of children born with non-traditional name spellings is larger than ever before. Not related to specific ethnic groups as your older experiences were. For example...

Caitlin
Kaitlyn
Katelyn
Caitlyn
Kaitlin
Catelyn
Caitlynn
Kaetlyn
Catelynn
Kaitlinn
Kaitlan
Keightlyn
Caitlinn
Katelan
Catelin
Kaitelynne
Caytlin
Caytlyn
Caetlin
Keightlin
Caetlan

So if anything, on the subject of name spellings, the cartoon is way off base. It is at best a very poor example to use of government intrusion (note that I am not denying said intrusion, only that this is a poor example of it).
 
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This is why I stand by my original interpretation of the cartoon that I posted, and disagree with Archer's view...

Funny how we each had different interpretations. I thought it was just a comment on bad names. It's actually pretty funny too if it means people think the government is so intrusive that they would interfer with people naming their kids. Government barely functions! They can't pass promote military officers, they can't collect taxes, they can't even keep running (assuming they don't pass a budget and shut down.)

I used to do political cartoons for a free newspaper in DC. I did two cartoons that were supposed to be for gun control. But the paper printed them like they were opposed to gun control. A local bar I went to (Tune Inn on Capitol Hill) had one of them pinned on the wall behind the bar. That was my 15 minutes of fame, but it was ass-backwards 🤦.

A lot things depend on perspective I guess.


 
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The cartoon implies that governments are forcing people (or trying) to use traditional names, right? Again, the number of children born with non-traditional name spellings is larger than ever before. Not related to specific ethnic groups as your older experiences were.

You're still missing my point, which is that as they are not misspellings, but rather expressions of individuality. So in essence, the cartoon is implying that the Government agent is not only being extraordinarily intrusive, but also attempting to "correct" something for which there are no hard and fast standards.

The fact that there are more non-traditional names today than ever before could even be seen by increasingly repressive governments as a threat, of sorts, as if there are many different spellings of Caitlin, to use your example, and countless other names, it would certainly complicate efforts to track (or track down) individuals.

In any case, as neither of us know what was in the cartoonist's mind, it is silly to argue that your interpretation is necessarily correct.
 
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Funny how we each had different interpretations. I thought it was just a comment on bad names. It's actually pretty funny too if it means people think the government is so intrusive that they would interfer with people naming their kids. Government barely functions! They can't pass promote military officers, they can't collect taxes, they can't even keep running (assuming they don't pass a budget and shut down.)

I used to do political cartoons for a free newspaper in DC. I did two cartoons that were supposed to be for gun control. But the paper printed them like they were opposed to gun control. A local bar I went to (Tune Inn on Capitol Hill) had one of them pinned on the wall behind the bar. That was my 15 minutes of fame, but it was ass-backwards 🤦.

A lot things depend on perspective I guess.



We can agree that you are a better cartoonist than most on the Forum.
 
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Funny how we each had different interpretations. I thought it was just a comment on bad names. It's actually pretty funny too if it means people think the government is so intrusive that they would interfer with people naming their kids. Government barely functions! They can't pass promote military officers, they can't collect taxes, they can't even keep running (assuming they don't pass a budget and shut down.)

Sure, but ineptitude doesn't stop them from trying to do stupid things!

One other point relating to the subject cartoon. The Cartoonist does occasionally inject politics into his work.

 
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You're still missing my point, which is that as they are not misspellings, but rather expressions of individuality.

I'm not sure where you got the impression that I was saying these are misspellings - I said no such thing so you are 100% making that up.

So in essence, the cartoon is implying that the Government agent is not only being extraordinarily intrusive, but also attempting to "correct" something for which there are no hard and fast standards.

Yes, that is clear. I never said any differently.

In any case, as neither of us know what was in the cartoonist's mind, it is silly to argue that your interpretation is necessarily correct.

No more silly than it is for you to argue that your interpretation is correct...

All I said is that it's a poor example of "government intrusion" because if it was actually happening it's failing miserably.
 
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We can agree that you are a better cartoonist than most on the Forum.

Thanks?

😁

Edit, And you are a better humorist.
 
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All I said is that it's a poor example of "government intrusion" because if it was actually happening it's failing miserably.

Wait, you think that cartoonists typically attempt to be literal when they make political points?
 
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Wait, you think that cartoonists typically attempt to be literal when they make political points?

Cartoonists just like attention, any attention.
 
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Wait, you think that cartoonists typically attempt to be literal when they make political points?

I have no expectations at all on what cartoonists attempt...
 
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. I suspect that the cartoonist was commenting on extreme Government intrusion into people's lives

I just realized the woman is pregnant. I think you're right. I think this is stab at pro-lifers intrusion on a woman's right to chose.

Brilliant. It works on several levels. Well done.
 
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There are essentially three possibilities. Either Adams was purely poking fun at countless people who choose non-traditional spellings for the names of their children, making a statement about an increasingly Orwellian society, or both.

The first strikes me as being unlikely, as why would he choose to introduce a Big Brother element to make the point? It could be the latter, though, as he also occasionally makes references to what might be considered dubious trends...

 
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There are essentially three possibilities. Either Adams was purely poking fun at countless people who choose non-traditional spellings for the names of their children, making a statement about an increasingly Orwellian society, or both.

There is a fourth - he was poking fun at the ineptitude of the authorities in preventing unconventional name spellings.