A Nerd Joke That Cannot Be Spoken

[Berkeley Brett]

I hope you are all well & in good spirits.

Consider the following nerd joke:

"There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary numbers, and those who don't."

Well, of course, the joke is only funny because "10" is the binary version of the decimal number "2".

But the joke ceases to be a joke when you say it out loud. If you say "There are TEN kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary numbers, and those who don't," you've used the word "ten", which is a decimal number: not binary.

But if you say "There are ONE-ZERO kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary numbers, and those who don't," you've used "one-zero", the binary vocalization of "10".

In neither spoken case does the joke "work". You have to read it in print.

I wonder if there are other jokes or other texts for which this kind of oddity is true? Are there other cases in which reading or saying something aloud conveys a different meaning than reading it off the page?

Thank you in advance for any thoughts you may care to share. (And if you don't have any thoughts on this specific topic, please feel free to share any favorite nerd jokes.)

--
Brett (in Berkeley, California, USA)
On Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/BerkeleyBrett
(You don't have to be a Twitter user to view this stream of ideas!)

[Dr Nick]

Berkeley Brett <roya...@gmail.com> writes:

> Consider the following nerd joke:
>
> "There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand
> binary numbers, and those who don't."
>
> Well, of course, the joke is only funny because "10" is the binary
> version of the decimal number "2".
>
> But the joke ceases to be a joke when you say it out loud. If you say
> "There are TEN kinds of people in the world: those who understand
> binary numbers, and those who don't," you've used the word "ten",
> which is a decimal number: not binary.
>
> But if you say "There are ONE-ZERO kinds of people in the world: those
>who understand binary numbers, and those who don't," you've used
>"one-zero", the binary vocalization of "10".
>
> In neither spoken case does the joke "work". You have to read it in print.
>
> I wonder if there are other jokes or other texts for which this kind
> of oddity is true? Are there other cases in which reading or saying
> something aloud conveys a different meaning than reading it off the
> page?

This is an interesting one that I've noticed before (and I've not come
across any others that have struck me the same way), because it's the
reverse of the way almost every pun works (as in my attempt to write the
Isle of Wight ferry joke a week or two ago).

The nerd joke about Halloween and Christmas is actually pretty close
because it depends on "Oct" and "Dec" both being abbreviations for two
different things. That's fine in writing, but in reading aloud it would
be natural to expand them, and you can only do that one way.

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Berkeley Brett skrev:

> I wonder if there are other jokes or other texts for which this
> kind of oddity is true? Are there other cases in which reading
> or saying something aloud conveys a different meaning than
> reading it off the page?

Yes. I have a Danish riddle which cannot be spoken. You write
(where * = bold):

*1* *P* T

and ask what that is. The answer is:

en tyk possementmager
(a fat trimming maker)

Explanation:

en tyk - P osse - men T mager
(one fat - P also - but T meager)

--
Bertel, Denmark

[Berkeley Brett]

A good example, Dr Nick!

As I recall, the joke is "Why does Halloween equal Christmas?"

Because OCT 31 = DEC 25

(Octal 31 = (3 X 8) + 1 = Decimal 25)

I think your idea that "it's the reverse of the way almost every pun works" actually sums it up very nicely.

Thanks again.

--
Brett in Berkeley

[Berkeley Brett]

Thank you for this Danish riddle, Mr Hansen. Quite interesting, and of a similar kind.

For no good reason, this has reminded me of perhaps the nerdliest joke I've heard in recent years:

Question: "What does the 'B.' in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for?"

Answer: "Benoit B. Mandelbrot"

(Recall that Professor Mandelbrot popularized the study of fractals using, among other things, the "Mandelbrot set": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set )

Thanks again...

--
Brett in Berkeley

[Jennifer Murphy]

On Sat, 7 Dec 2013 05:51:42 -0800 (PST), Berkeley Brett
<roya...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Thank you for this Danish riddle, Mr Hansen. Quite interesting, and of a similar kind.
>
>For no good reason, this has reminded me of perhaps the nerdliest joke I've heard in recent years:

"nerdliest" or "nerdiest"?

>Question: "What does the 'B.' in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for?"
>
>Answer: "Benoit B. Mandelbrot"
>
>(Recall that Professor Mandelbrot popularized the study of fractals using, among other things, the "Mandelbrot set": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set )
>
>Thanks again...

That's a good one that I hadn't heard.

[James Silverton]

New to me too but I get it :-)

--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not." in Reply To.

[Mike Barnes]

Quite differently, a FOF said that after he'd played his mother some
Captain Beefheart, she clearly wasn't impressed, and she asked "What
does the B stand for?".

--
Mike Barnes

[Richard Yates]

On Sat, 7 Dec 2013 05:51:42 -0800 (PST), Berkeley Brett
<roya...@gmail.com> wrote:

"Why are jokes in base 8 not funny?"
"Because five, six, seven."

(If you do not get this one, you are in good company. It requires not
only understanding number system bases, but also having heard a
different joke. My favorite nerd joke.)

[micky]

On 7 Dec 2013 15:49:41 GMT, r...@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote:

>Berkeley Brett <roya...@gmail.com> writes:
>>But the joke ceases to be a joke when you say it out loud. If
>>you say "There are TEN kinds of people in the world: those
>>who understand binary numbers, and those who don't," you've
>>used the word "ten", which is a decimal number: not binary.
>

> With �10� it's the well-knwon merd joke (today everybody has
> heard of binary digits), a nerd /will/ understand the joke
> with �ten� spoken.

But 10 in binary is not ten, it's two.

> (�merd� - the word I use for people who are not nerds.)

[Richard Yates]

On 7 Dec 2013 16:04:55 GMT, r...@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote:

>Richard Yates <ric...@yatesguitar.com> writes:
>>(If you do not get this one, you are in good company. It requires not
>>only understanding number system bases, but also having heard a
>>different joke. My favorite nerd joke.)
>

> I tried to guess (without knowing it!) that other joke, and found
> something starting with »Why is number six afraid?«. If this is
> correct, it would show that one does not really have to know this
> other joke (beforehand, because one can figure it out oneself).

Excellent!

[micky]

On 7 Dec 2013 16:04:55 GMT, r...@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote:

>Richard Yates <ric...@yatesguitar.com> writes:

>>(If you do not get this one, you are in good company. It requires not
>>only understanding number system bases, but also having heard a
>>different joke. My favorite nerd joke.)
>

> I tried to guess (without knowing it!) that other joke, and found

If you are guessing, how did you find something?

By guessing, do you mean googling? That's a new meaning of guess, I
guess!!!

[micky]

On Sat, 07 Dec 2013 07:57:55 -0800, Richard Yates
<ric...@yatesguitar.com> wrote:

>On Sat, 7 Dec 2013 05:51:42 -0800 (PST), Berkeley Brett
><roya...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>Thank you for this Danish riddle, Mr Hansen. Quite interesting, and of a similar kind.
>>
>>For no good reason, this has reminded me of perhaps the nerdliest joke I've heard in recent years:
>>
>>Question: "What does the 'B.' in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for?"
>>
>>Answer: "Benoit B. Mandelbrot"
>>
>>(Recall that Professor Mandelbrot popularized the study of fractals using, among other things, the "Mandelbrot set": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set )
>>
>>Thanks again...

I don't get it, but I think that's because I've forgotten what I read
about fractals. ??

>
>"Why are jokes in base 8 not funny?"
>"Because five, six, seven."
>
>(If you do not get this one, you are in good company. It requires not
>only understanding number system bases, but also having heard a
>different joke. My favorite nerd joke.)

This one I get. It's good, although not enough to laugh out loud.
Or even laugh in soft

[micky]

On 7 Dec 2013 16:48:50 GMT, r...@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote:

> In common English only the decimal system is used. With the

Except this is an exception to the way English is commonly used,
becuase the teller of the joke knows that 10 is a binary number.
Once he knows that, he has no business calling the number ten, since
ten is not a number in binary.

This is why the joke can only be written, as Berkeley said.


> number system fixed, one does not have to distinguish
> between numerals (words/symbols for numbers) and numbers.
>
> The word �10� usually is pronunced �ten�, but we cannot be
> sure whether �ten� is the pronunciation for the /word/ �10�

There is no word 10. There are only numbers written 10. In base 3,
the number is called three; in base 4, it's called four, In base 17,
it's called seventeen. In base 1, it's called one.

> (the sequence of the two characters �1� and �0�, whatever
> they might mean) or for the /number/ 10, because usually no
> difference is made between these two.
>
> The written joke plays with the double meaning of the
> numeral �10� as both a numeral of the decimal system and a
> numeral of the binary system, while the number system is not
> specified with the numeral (as in �10_10� versus �10_2�).
>
> In the same way, the spoken joke can play with the sound
> /tEn/ meaning both the numeral �10� (one oh) and the number
> �10_10�, although I agree that well-educated speakers would
> never read �10_2� as /tEn/.
>
> Especially when one reads aloud the joke and does not yet
> know its end, one will pronounce �10� as /tEn/, because when
> �10� occurs, there is no hint that this later will be
> interpreted to be a binary numeral. The listener can be able
> to infer that the written text has �ten� or �10� at the position
> of /tEn/, and therefore might be able to get that joke.

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Sat, 07 Dec 2013 12:05:14 -0500, micky <NONONO...@bigfoot.com>
wrote:

>On Sat, 07 Dec 2013 07:57:55 -0800, Richard Yates
><ric...@yatesguitar.com> wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 7 Dec 2013 05:51:42 -0800 (PST), Berkeley Brett
>><roya...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>Thank you for this Danish riddle, Mr Hansen. Quite interesting, and of a similar kind.
>>>
>>>For no good reason, this has reminded me of perhaps the nerdliest joke I've heard in recent years:
>>>
>>>Question: "What does the 'B.' in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for?"
>>>
>>>Answer: "Benoit B. Mandelbrot"
>>>
>>>(Recall that Professor Mandelbrot popularized the study of fractals using, among other things, the "Mandelbrot set": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set )
>>>
>>>Thanks again...
>
>I don't get it, but I think that's because I've forgotten what I read
>about fractals. ??
>>

In a Mandelbrot Set the image of the set has a shape. If you then look
closely at just part of it that part is in turn the same shape and so
on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mandel_zoom_00_mandelbrot_set.jpg

In the joke "B" represents "Benoit B. Mandelbrot".

If you "look" more closely that becomes
"Benoit Benoit B. Mandelbrot Mandelbrot"
then closer and closer
"Benoit Benoit Benoit Benoit B Mandelbrot Mandelbrot Mandelbrot".
Mandelbrot"

>>"Why are jokes in base 8 not funny?"
>>"Because five, six, seven."
>>
>>(If you do not get this one, you are in good company. It requires not
>>only understanding number system bases, but also having heard a
>>different joke. My favorite nerd joke.)
>
>This one I get. It's good, although not enough to laugh out loud.
>Or even laugh in soft

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[Christian Weisgerber]

Berkeley Brett <roya...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I wonder if there are other jokes or other texts for which this kind of
> oddity is true? Are there other cases in which reading or saying
> something aloud conveys a different meaning than reading it off the
> page?

There are many puns in the world's languages that rely on homographs
and homophones, so they can only be written and not spoken or vice
versa.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber na...@mips.inka.de

[Berkeley Brett]

Thank you, PeterWD, for a very good answer Micky's question about the Mandelbrot joke.

If anyone is interested, here's a very nice animation of a "fractal zoom" with a Mandelbrot set:

http://youtu.be/0jGaio87u3A

As you zoom in, you'll see certain patterns (with variations) that occur again and again.

There are many "fractal zoom" animations, some of them very good:

http://is.gd/NizkJP

Might be fun if someone would do an animation of the Benoit B. Mandelbrot joke, forever zooming in on the "B."!

--
Brett (in Berkeley, California, USA)

http://www.ForeverFunds.org/
My plan for erasing poverty from the world with micro-endowments that "give" forever into the future

[micky]

On 7 Dec 2013 17:08:09 GMT, r...@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote:

>micky <NONONO...@bigfoot.com> writes:
>>By guessing, do you mean googling?
>

> Guessing, and then confirming the guess with the well-known
> Google(tm) search engine. (One needs to guess first what to
> enter into the search engine.)

Okay. BTW, you guessed right.

[micky]

Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten what I'd forgotten about that. Thanks.

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Berkeley Brett skrev:

> If anyone is interested, here's a very nice animation of a
> "fractal zoom" with a Mandelbrot set:

And here's a nice Mandelbrot program with lots of feratures:

http://matek.hu/xaos/doku.php

--
Bertel, Denmark

[Dingbat]

On Saturday, December 7, 2013 2:02:28 AM UTC-5, Berkeley Brett wrote:
> Consider the following nerd joke:
> "There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary numbers, and those who don't."
>
> Well, of course, the joke is only funny because "10" is the binary version of the decimal number "2".> But the joke ceases to be a joke when you say it out loud. If you say "There are TEN kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary numbers, and those who don't," you've used the word "ten", which is a decimal number: not binary.
>

> I wonder if there are other jokes or other texts for which this kind of oddity is true? Are there other cases in which reading or saying something aloud conveys a different meaning than reading it off the page?
>

My pun below is different; it is better said than written as pene and penne have the same pronuciation in an American accent but different spellings. BTW, there are 3 other puns in my sentence: queer, gay and bash.

Bill Maher rages "Christian hypocrites, admit you're selfish!
"Don't say you'd like to help people, but your hands are tied, because it would cause a culture of dependency, or go against the Bible, or worst of all, rob them of freedom to be sick and hungry. Just admit you're selfish," he said. He cited new laws in Missouri cutting $96 million in food stamps, claiming that it was the latest so-called Bible belt state failing to take care of those in need. Waiters in particular are often victims of Christians withholding tips in order to push their religion, Maher said. A fake $10 bill with a Bible verse was held up as especially loathsome, as was the story of a gay waiter who was refused a tip because of his sexuality. "Not tipping a gay waiter will not make him want to put his penis in a woman. It will make him want to put his penis in your pasta," Maher quipped.

My punny remark: Ugh, pene pasta would queer a gay bash!

[Jennifer Murphy]

On Sat, 07 Dec 2013 07:57:55 -0800, Richard Yates
<ric...@yatesguitar.com> wrote:

Two questions:

1. Should the joke be written as:

Why are jokes in base 8 not funny?

Because 7 10 11?

2. In your version, should there be commas in the second line?

[Richard Yates]

That's a good way, too. But how would you tell it? (see else-thread).
How is "10" base 8 spoken?

The way I wrote it (the way I heard it), requires the step of
recognizing that the answer, spoken in base ten, has to be translated
to base eight, then understood as the top three single digits in base
eight and so analogous to 7, 8, 9 (the top three single digits in base
ten) which are the punchline of the original joke.

I would guess that there are many ways to tell it. Is it the same joke
if you used base 12 and the punchline was "Because nine, ten, eleven"?

Would that version be better or worse if the punchline were "Because
nine, A, B"?

For nerd jokes, the more arcane and the more steps necessary to
decode, the better.

>2. In your version, should there be commas in the second line?

I guess not. Good point.

[Tak To]

On 12/7/2013 3:24 AM, Dr Nick wrote:
> Berkeley Brett <roya...@gmail.com> writes:
>

>> Consider the following nerd joke:
>>
>> "There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand
>> binary numbers, and those who don't."
>>
>> Well, of course, the joke is only funny because "10" is the binary
>> version of the decimal number "2".
>>
>> But the joke ceases to be a joke when you say it out loud. If you say
>> "There are TEN kinds of people in the world: those who understand
>> binary numbers, and those who don't," you've used the word "ten",
>> which is a decimal number: not binary.
>>

>> But if you say "There are ONE-ZERO kinds of people in the world: those

>> who understand binary numbers, and those who don't," you've used

>> "one-zero", the binary vocalization of "10".
>>
>> In neither spoken case does the joke "work". You have to read it in print.

>>
>> I wonder if there are other jokes or other texts for which this kind
>> of oddity is true? Are there other cases in which reading or saying
>> something aloud conveys a different meaning than reading it off the
>> page?
>

> This is an interesting one that I've noticed before (and I've not come
> across any others that have struck me the same way), because it's the
> reverse of the way almost every pun works (as in my attempt to write the
> Isle of Wight ferry joke a week or two ago).
>
> The nerd joke about Halloween and Christmas is actually pretty close
> because it depends on "Oct" and "Dec" both being abbreviations for two
> different things. That's fine in writing, but in reading aloud it would
> be natural to expand them, and you can only do that one way.

It is a nice little written pun, clever but
not particularly witty, and not what I would
call a (complete) joke. A joke requires a
buildup phase.

Some puns can be worked into a joke by using
the "knock knock who's there" format.

Clever puns may not make good jokes; while
marginal puns could be surprisingly funny. A
funny bad pun causes people to laugh and moan
at the same time.

Tak
--
----------------------------------------------------------------+-----
Tak To ta...@alum.mit.eduxx
--------------------------------------------------------------------^^
[taode takto ~{LU5B~}] NB: trim the xx to get my real email addr

[Tak To]

On 12/7/2013 8:39 AM, Berkeley Brett wrote:
> A good example, Dr Nick!
>
> As I recall, the joke is "Why does Halloween equal Christmas?"
>
> Because OCT 31 = DEC 25
>
> (Octal 31 = (3 X 8) + 1 = Decimal 25)
>
> I think your idea that "it's the reverse of the way almost every pun works" actually sums it up very nicely.
>
> Thanks again.

Here is a joke that has a written as well as a
spoken aspect, best delivered using a format similar
to "Carnarc the Magnificent".

The answer is "9 W". What is the question?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Mr Wagner, do you spell your name with a V?"

[Peter Moylan]

On 08/12/13 00:51, Berkeley Brett wrote:
> Thank you for this Danish riddle, Mr Hansen. Quite interesting, and of a similar kind.
>
> For no good reason, this has reminded me of perhaps the nerdliest joke I've heard in recent years:
>
> Question: "What does the 'B.' in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for?"
>
> Answer: "Benoit B. Mandelbrot"

I once saw a book whose index contained the entry
Recursive, see recursive
Unfortunately I've forgotten which book it was.

Ranging further afield, I recall another book, on compiler theory, that
had exercises at the end of each chapter. One of those exercises was
"Implement a full PL/I compiler". This was accompanied by a footnote
saying "For instructors who assign all the even-numbered problems."

--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.

[Peter Moylan]

On 08/12/13 03:31, Christian Weisgerber wrote:
> Berkeley Brett <roya...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I wonder if there are other jokes or other texts for which this kind of
>> oddity is true? Are there other cases in which reading or saying
>> something aloud conveys a different meaning than reading it off the
>> page?
>
> There are many puns in the world's languages that rely on homographs
> and homophones, so they can only be written and not spoken or vice
> versa.
>

One from my primary school days:

Q: How do you spell "hungry horse" in four letters?
A: MTGG.

That relies on homophones, but doesn't need to be written down to be
understood. Of course you need writing for jokes that rely on homographs
that are _not_ homophones.

[J. J. Lodder]

Berkeley Brett <roya...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Thank you for this Danish riddle, Mr Hansen. Quite interesting, and of a
> similar kind.
>
> For no good reason, this has reminded me of perhaps the nerdliest joke
> I've heard in recent years:
>
> Question: "What does the 'B.' in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for?"
>
> Answer: "Benoit B. Mandelbrot"
>

> (Recall that Professor Mandelbrot popularized the study of fractals using, amo
ng other things, the "Mandelbrot set":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set )

His Dutch uncle A. Mandelbrood never amounted to anything,

Jan

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Sunday, December 8, 2013 1:03:30 AM UTC-5, Tak To wrote:

> Here is a joke that has a written as well as a
> spoken aspect, best delivered using a format similar
> to "Carnarc the Magnificent".
>
> The answer is "9 W". What is the question?
>

> "Mr Wagner, do you spell your name with a V?"

As I pointed out the last time that "joke" was mentioned, it makes sense
only for a very small region just west and north of New York City.

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Peter Moylan skrev:

> I once saw a book whose index contained the entry
> Recursive, see recursive
> Unfortunately I've forgotten which book it was.

The book is the imaginary book "Programmer's reference". It also
contains:

Loop: see Endloop
Endloop: see Loop

--
Bertel, Denmark

[Pablo]

Stefan Ram wrote:

> Berkeley Brett <roya...@gmail.com> writes:
>>But the joke ceases to be a joke when you say it out loud. If
>>you say "There are TEN kinds of people in the world: those
>>who understand binary numbers, and those who don't," you've
>>used the word "ten", which is a decimal number: not binary.
>

> With »10« it's the well-knwon merd joke (today everybody has
> heard of binary digits), a nerd /will/ understand the joke
> with »ten« spoken.

I remember when I was a programmer, people used to say "fifty hex" for
0x50/050H (80 dec).

--

Pablo

http://www.ipernity.com/home/313627
http://paulc.es/

[Martin Ambuhl]

On 12/8/2013 2:16 PM, Pablo wrote:

> I remember when I was a programmer, people used to say "fifty hex" for
> 0x50/050H (80 dec).

"Fifty" stands out for me, but not in hex. On the PDP-6 and -10 family
of computers, symbol ables had names stored in 36-bit words. With the
initial 128 characters of ASCII the 6-bit representations would yield 6
character names with no possibility of adding flags of any sort in that
word. A very reduced set of forty characters was often used, known as
RAD50 (pronounced RAD fifty), the name referring to the reduction of
character values mod 50(8) = mod 40(10).

[Mike L]

Too busy talking to people like a Dutch uncle, no doubt. Did he do
anything at all to make almends?

--
Mike.

[J. J. Lodder]

Mike L <n...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> On Sun, 8 Dec 2013 12:35:03 +0100, nos...@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J.
> Lodder) wrote:
>
> >Berkeley Brett <roya...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Thank you for this Danish riddle, Mr Hansen. Quite interesting, and of a
> >> similar kind.
> >>
> >> For no good reason, this has reminded me of perhaps the nerdliest joke
> >> I've heard in recent years:
> >>
> >> Question: "What does the 'B.' in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for?"
> >>
> >> Answer: "Benoit B. Mandelbrot"
> >>
> >> (Recall that Professor Mandelbrot popularized the study of fractals

> >> using, among other things, the "Mandelbrot set":

> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set )
> >
> >His Dutch uncle A. Mandelbrood never amounted to anything,
> >
> Too busy talking to people like a Dutch uncle, no doubt. Did he do
> anything at all to make almends?

No, his superior taste did him in before he could,

Jan

[Jennifer Murphy]

On Sat, 07 Dec 2013 16:40:19 -0800, Richard Yates

But the fact that 7-8-9 are the top three single digits in base 10 has
nothing whatsoever to do with the original joke. Hence, to me, answering
"5 6 7" makes no sense. Whereas, "7 10 11" is the base 8 equivalent of
7-8-9, but since there is no "8" in base 8, it isn;t finny. No?

[John Briggs]

On 08/12/2013 00:40, Richard Yates wrote:
> On Sat, 07 Dec 2013 14:26:45 -0800, Jennifer Murphy
> <JenM...@jm.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 07 Dec 2013 07:57:55 -0800, Richard Yates
>> <ric...@yatesguitar.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Sat, 7 Dec 2013 05:51:42 -0800 (PST), Berkeley Brett
>>> <roya...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thank you for this Danish riddle, Mr Hansen. Quite interesting, and of a similar kind.
>>>>
>>>> For no good reason, this has reminded me of perhaps the nerdliest joke I've heard in recent years:
>>>>
>>>> Question: "What does the 'B.' in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for?"
>>>>
>>>> Answer: "Benoit B. Mandelbrot"
>>>>
>>>> (Recall that Professor Mandelbrot popularized the study of fractals using, among other things, the "Mandelbrot set": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set )
>>>>
>>>> Thanks again...
>>>
>>> "Why are jokes in base 8 not funny?"
>>> "Because five, six, seven."
>>>
>>> (If you do not get this one, you are in good company. It requires not
>>> only understanding number system bases, but also having heard a
>>> different joke. My favorite nerd joke.)
>>
>> Two questions:
>>
>> 1. Should the joke be written as:
>>
>> Why are jokes in base 8 not funny?
>> Because 7 10 11?
>
> That's a good way, too. But how would you tell it? (see else-thread).
> How is "10" base 8 spoken?

It's "ten" (the comparison with binary is a red herring.) That's what
makes octal so fiendish: it goes 6, 7, 10, 11. Hexadecimal at least
gives you a clue as it goes 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F, 10, 11.
--
John Briggs

[Richard Yates]

On Sun, 08 Dec 2013 13:08:21 -0800, Jennifer Murphy

You are looking for sense where the joke is in the non-sense.

>Whereas, "7 10 11" is the base 8 equivalent of
>7-8-9, but since there is no "8" in base 8, it isn;t finny. No?

Well, it certainly has nothing to do with fish. Humor comes from
simlutaneous meanings across different systems. The whole joke is
about translations between systems and about untranslatablility and
hence is a meta-joke about humor itself. The joke is a joke about
jokes, and also a joke about *a* joke. Plus, the original joke is also
about simultanous meanings across systems (by the homophony of "eight"
and "ate") and the clashing that results from partially slipping from
one meaning to the other.

There are probably an infinite number of variations that would be
constructed each with its own rationale for straddling the number
bases, and each equally funny and arcane.

At some point, the best punchline for this joke is the one for which
no one can construct a rationale but which in its vacuousness refers
to all the preceding versions.

[Peter Moylan]

The example I saw was in a printed book, not an imaginary book. It was
probably published in the 1960s or 1970s, and books in that subject go
out of date fairly quickly, so there's little chance that I will be able
to identify it more precisely.

[Jennifer Murphy]

On Sun, 08 Dec 2013 21:32:41 +1100, Peter Moylan
<pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:

>On 08/12/13 00:51, Berkeley Brett wrote:
>> Thank you for this Danish riddle, Mr Hansen. Quite interesting, and of a similar kind.
>>
>> For no good reason, this has reminded me of perhaps the nerdliest joke I've heard in recent years:
>>
>> Question: "What does the 'B.' in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for?"
>>
>> Answer: "Benoit B. Mandelbrot"
>
>I once saw a book whose index contained the entry
> Recursive, see recursive
>Unfortunately I've forgotten which book it was.
>
>Ranging further afield, I recall another book, on compiler theory, that
>had exercises at the end of each chapter. One of those exercises was
>"Implement a full PL/I compiler". This was accompanied by a footnote
>saying "For instructors who assign all the even-numbered problems."

Many years ago, there was a word processing markup language from IBM. I
forget the name. (GML something) The controls started with a period. The
control for a new page was something like ".pa" or ".page" or ".pg".

There was a control to embed an image or maybe another document. I
believe the control was .im. (For some reason, they used "imbed", rather
than "embed".)

There was a variant of that control that would delay the imbedding to
the top of the next page. I believe the control was ".di". In one
version of the user guide that clearly escaped the editors, the entry in
the index for ".di" said, "See marital aides".

I bet the white shirts at IBM corporate were not amused.

At about the same time, IBM sales reps were famous for pre-announcing
soon-to-be-available features which always seemed to take longer to
actually arrive. There was a common joke about an IBM sales rep on his
wedding night sitting on the edge of the bed all night telling his bride
how great it was going to be...

[Mark Brader]

Bertel Lund Hansen:
> Yes. I have a Danish riddle which cannot be spoken. You write
> (where * = bold):
>
> *1* *P* T
>
> and ask what that is. The answer is:
>
> en tyk possementmager
> (a fat trimming maker)
>
> Explanation:
>
> en tyk - P osse - men T mager
> (one fat - P also - but T meager)

There are many examples of these in English. "Games" magazine runs a page
of them from time to time under the title "Wacky Wordies". I've seen one
in French, too.
--
Mark Brader | It's practically impossible to keep two separate databases
Toronto | in step for any length of time. That's true even when one
m...@vex.net | of the "databases" is reality itself. -- Andrew Koenig

My text in this article is in the public domain.

[Mark Brader]

Peter Moylan:

> I once saw a book whose index contained the entry
> Recursive, see recursive
> Unfortunately I've forgotten which book it was.

That's been in the Jargon File since Eric Raymond put it into
version 2.2.1 in 1990:

http://www.catb.org/jargon/oldversions/jarg221.txt

It appears there in the form:

RECURSION n. See RECURSION, TAIL RECURSION.

TAIL RECURSION n. See TAIL RECURSION.

--
Mark Brader | "... [A]toms and universes are the same. All the
Toronto | world is recursive, and that's why we never
m...@vex.net | know where to begin." -- Charles Goldfarb

[Tak To]

On 12/8/2013 3:00 PM, Martin Ambuhl wrote:
> On 12/8/2013 2:16 PM, Pablo wrote:
>
>> I remember when I was a programmer, people used to say "fifty hex" for
>> 0x50/050H (80 dec).
>
> "Fifty" stands out for me, but not in hex. On the PDP-6 and -10 family
> of computers, symbol ables had names stored in 36-bit words. With the
> initial 128 characters of ASCII the 6-bit representations would yield 6
> character names with no possibility of adding flags of any sort in that
> word.

Dec Sixbit is ASCII 32-95.

> A very reduced set of forty characters was often used, known as
> RAD50 (pronounced RAD fifty), the name referring to the reduction of
> character values mod 50(8) = mod 40(10).

A.k.a "Squoze"

IIRC, file names are in Sixbit, but symbols for the
linking loader is in Squoze.