OT: NADs and the conventions surrounding them

[Paul Keating]

I have been unhappy for a very long time about having to flag harmless little jokes posted deliberately in public with health warnings that say ⚠️Watch out! ‼️Joke here! 🤣You're supposed to think this is funny! 

I heartily dislike the NAD convention. I clearly remember how it arose: I was there. In a deal a very long time ago, someone posted a joke definition in public. The dealer did not pick up from the message headers that it was a public post, took it as a serious submission (as if anything in this game can be treated seriously) and included it in the list for voting, to general hilarity. Because, of course, all the other players knew it was public. 

The dealer, aggrieved, complained that it wasn't a very funny joke, and they couldn't be expected to notice it had been posted in public. A dealer, they said, was entitled to flags saying ⚠️Watch out! ‼️Joke here! 🤣You're supposed to think this is funny! 

This convention reached truly ridiculous heights when a player complained about a NAD of mine because the flag, which I had reluctantly put there, did not conform to some imaginary specification for typeface, colour and position in the post. 

NAD flags arose from one dealer’s complaint, and were adopted (so far as I remember) without a word of discussion, let alone agreement. I would like to find out what round that was. I know it was before Round 1172 (in 2001), because at that point NAD flags were already a thing. The identity of the dealer might have had something to do with the uncharacteristic level of compliance. Some players had a penchant for making up rules, and then berating players for not obeying them. 

 Can any other players who were there at the time (all three of you) help me out?

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Paul Keating

Soustons, Nouvelle Aquitaine, France

[Judy Madnick]

Would using a crown for a publicly posted definition solve the problem, or is that an issue to some also?

 

Judy

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Original Message

From: "Paul Keating" <dixo...@boargules.com>

To: dixo...@googlegroups.com;

Date: 5/31/2026 5:21:24 PM

Subject: [Dixonary] OT: NADs and the conventions surrounding them

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[Shani Naylor]

Paul, I agree with you to an extent. It's like if we're watching TV and someone makes a joke, they don't have a big sign saying "that was a joke folks". But I think if we remove the requirement for 'nad' we will end up back in the situation all those rounds ago where the dealer mistook the nad for a real def. I don't always understand the nads, and we've all received wacky defs. I don't necessarily check to see if a msg has been sent just to me or to the group.

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[Daniel B. Widdis]

TV shows do have laugh tracks. :)

Some jokes are obvious.

Some aren't, and despite our collective well-read expertise in many things, obscure jokes sometimes aren't obvious.

I think that's a feature, not a bug.

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[Paul Keating]

In the absence of further discussion I would like to close this thread with a proposal.

I’ll begin by saying that I think the dealer should not need a NAD to be flagged. Dixon or NAD, the message is public, and so, in either case, the definition should not find its way into the list for voting. We don’t demand that the author of a Dixon should flag it (for obvious reasons) so there is no very clear motivation for demanding that a NAD be treated differently. It is a pity that this point was not made in response to the grumpy complaint of one inattentive dealer 25 years ago, but, as I said, I suspect the identity of the dealer may have had something to do with that. There was no discussion at the time, just, apparently, automatic compliance.

The addressee of the message as displayed by the dealer’s mail client will always make it clear whether the message was sent openly to the group or privately to the dealer. I think it is fair to expect the dealer will check the addressee. When posting a definition, a player who does not check the addressee before pressing Send may well end up with a crown. We reckon neglect of that check to be the player’s fault.

There are some genres of humour, among them irony and satire, where there is a moment of doubt while the author’s intent hangs in the balance. By mandating health-and-safety warnings we effectively ban such jokes. It is like requiring that a firework must first be set off before it may be sold.

The discussion mentioned laugh tracks. Discussions of laugh tracks are about the performing arts and their audiences; NADs are humour expressed purely in the written word. Laugh tracks engender controversy that is real and lively, but that controversy has no relevance here.

As many commenters have said, a NAD may be unfunny, or simply baffling, if it makes a cultural reference that not all players share. A NAD is, in a way, like a haiku. Both form and topic are very restricted. It is a challenge to write one that unites universal appeal with humour and elegance. Not always meeting that challenge isn’t the writer’s fault, for the same reason that any ensuing bafflement isn’t the reader’s fault.

But when a NAD doesn’t meet the challenge, a dealer not in the habit of checking might want a warning. And the one player who should always have a warning is Judy. It is possible for the dealer tell with certainty if a post was public. But Judy really has no way to tell with certainty if the public posting was deliberate. For some genres of humour, that is the point.

So, as an alternative to the health-and-safety warning, I am proposing that players writing a NAD should copy Judy and the dealer with a suitable superscription.

I’m not suggesting that you have to do this. If you are satisfied with the status quo, you can carry on as before. It’s just an alternative way of achieving the original goal, that you can choose to adopt, or not.

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Paul Keating

Soustons, Nouvelle Aquitaine, France

[Chowie]

Must we make a mountain out of a mole hill?

~Bending under the weight of His mercies~

​ The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and only Son, Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

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[Daniel B Widdis]

I think that’s long past. Currently I see a practical solution.  An optional “if this isn’t obvious” avoidance of a misplaced crown. 

After all, wars have been fought over misplaced crowns. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 21, 2026, at 7:11 PM, Chowie <chow...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Judy Madnick]

Paul and all,

Quote:

So, as an alternative to the health-and-safety warning, I am proposing that players writing a NAD should copy Judy and the dealer with a suitable superscription.

How about if I were to "crown" the authors of all publicly posted definitions regardless of whether they're NAD (without the "NAD" inclusion) or simply posted their fake definition in error. That would warn the poster if he or she accidentally posted a public message and they would then be able to send a new definition to the dealer.

Just a thought...

Judy  

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Original Message

From: "Paul Keating" <dixonar...@boargules.com>

To: dixo...@googlegroups.com;

Date: 6/21/2026 1:01:55 PM

Subject: Re: [Dixonary] OT: NADs and the conventions surrounding them

[Shani Naylor]

I agree with Debbie. This also puts pressure on Judy (even though, as you say, the nad might not funny or it might be baffling, as indeed many defs are). Given the small response to the original post, my question would be "how many players want this change?" I think the result will be even fewer nads than before. 

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[Judy Madnick]

Sometimes NADs are believable. That's why I wondered whether a crown would be in order for a public definition posting. That would alert the sender if, in fact, it was a "goof."

 

Judy

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Original Message

From: "Shani Naylor" <shani....@gmail.com>

To: dixo...@googlegroups.com;

Date: 6/21/2026 7:32:36 PM

Subject: Re: [Dixonary] OT: NADs and the conventions surrounding them

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[Daniel B Widdis]

Sometimes the real definition is a word that people assume would be a NAD.  

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