Oh boy, ILX! That's where I'm a viking!..?

noone knows what the writer of the joke meant! it's not a given

language is a cracked pot upon which we bang out tunes for bears to dance to when we wish to conjure pity from the stars imo

agree with dyao there, but we really should have a discussion about why joeks are funny itt

noone knows what the writer of the joke meant! it's not a given

no it's not a given but when the writer of a joke says "this is what I meant by it" it has considerably more force than when the writer of a short story/novel/poem says "this is the meaning of the text"

authorial absence is considerably & reliably more overstated than authorial intent

btw you asked for this so no complaints

also, the meaning of the joke is that ralph dreams that he is a viking

point to where the writer of the joke says "this is what I meant"

it's in the joke, when he says that sleep is where he's a viking

this is turning into that ILM thread where xuxhk was all "if I mishear a lyric it's perfectly fine for me to talk about that in the review as if those are the real words, it's not irresponsible or misleading at all to only give the reader my take"

discussed upthread, writer on staff answered question, that's close enough, everybody knows "viking at sleep" is ridiculous, barthesian jouissance in lit doesn't enter into this shit, the question is stupid

also I'm not sure how either of your propositions are automatic gimmes, but whatever

"but what if the joke was being read out by a line-actor who can read phonetically but doesn't actually understand the words?" I guess is next

I think that this is what the writer of the joke meant. This here. Us agruing. We're the joke. Look in the mirror - how many days have you put off shaving to post on this thread? We have met the viking, and it is us.

Look in the mirror - how many days have you put off shaving to post on this thread?

rubbed chin w/knuckles and sadly lol'd tbh

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/CrazyDiamond/blog/Picture3.png

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DCy8K968Alo/0.jpg

Ralph isn't smart enough to come up with a hipsterish turn of phrase like "being a viking" at some activity. That you're just assuming that the writers all of a sudden decided to retcon his character and have him be smart enough to come up with his very own catchphrase is absurd. He goes to sleep and becomes a viking, that's all he's smart enough to understand.

i'd just like to congratulate whoever this was for attempting to introduce a discussion of hipsters to this thread via wanton irresponsible misuse above

discussed upthread, writer on staff answered question, that's close enough,

David Silverman's (who's a director/animator, not a writer, and who neither wrote or directed "Lisa the Vegetarian") answer was, "I'm sure David Cohen meant...", i.e. it's just his intepretation. Doesn't prove anything.

everybody knows "viking at sleep" is ridiculous

You do realize that many jokes are funny because they are ridiculous, and that ridiculousness was exactly what the writer intended?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/tracerhand/its_on_now.jpg

honestly the only reason i'm even tuning into this thread atm is for more aerosmith lols

While searching the web to see if David Cohen has ever addressed this question, I came upon this thread on another board, where the same issue is discussed. And here's a quote from that thread:

This morning, unaware of this debate and unprompted, my 7-year-old son sang, to the tune of Queen's "We Are The Champions"

WEEEEEE ARE THE VIIIIIKIINNGGGSSSS!!!

He equates the word "viking" with the concept "champion"

Greg wins.

Makes you think, doesn't it?

no

Well, it makes you think if you're thinking kind of fellow.

that link makes me afraid that underrated aerosmith albums may have lived through this debate TWICE now

is there some kind of trauma support fund we can contribute to? is PTSD driving him to relive it all on our ILX version?

According to the comments on his imdb page, apparently David X. Cohen reveals his personal email address in the DVD commentary to Futurama episode "Roswell That Ends Well" from the series' third season. Anybody have these DVDs?

Nevermind, those comments were from 2006 and the address isn't working anymore.

everybody knows "viking at sleep" is ridiculous

You do realize that many jokes are funny because they are ridiculous, and that ridiculousness was exactly what the writer intended?

― Tuomas, Friday, April 30, 2010 8:19 AM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is like saying that the phrase "knock knock" makes you think of the Three Stooges bumping their heads together, and that must be why knock knock jokes are so funny.

I was pretty glad when I opened the door and it turned out to be my friend and not an interrupting cow.

It's nothing like that. It's all about the context: what Ms. Hoover says, what Ralph answers. The joke is not that it makes me think of something else that's totally out of context (like in your Three Stooges example), the joke is that it's easy imagine Ralph being proud of his sleeping skills (as opposed to his worm-cutting skills) and using words in an eccentric way.

(x-post)

you misinterpreted the joke in a ridiculous way, and are now insisting that since comedy is often intentionally ridiculous, the more ridiculous interpretation must be the correct one. that is your "logic."

Ralph's eccentric use of language pretty much exhaustively involves malapropisms, not creative metaphor. (xp)

some dude otm

I've reached the point where I'm actually willing to SB people who stubbornly cling to option A, so I guess I better quit looking at this thread.

Once the results are in I'm going to SB every poster who didn't take part in this thread.

the sad thing is I'd like to take this debate out into the real world and see what people I know think, but I'm kind of scared of finding out that any friends or loved ones think it's A

can't wait to ask for my SB total after the results are in

you can check it on the 'how many sb's do i have' thread fyi

results would be interesting, yes.

I have tried to read the last 100 posts on this, having not read from the outset, and tbh option A only seems possible to people who have no idea how language works.

I'm with Crump on this one.

Errr, I'm option A and I teach English. What a disaster for my students.

feel sorry for them ;_;

would like to point out there's only one group of people putting the B in SB itt

the sad thing is I'd like to take this debate out into the real world and see what people I know think, but I'm kind of scared of finding out that any friends or loved ones think it's A

I've been doing this and while I'm getting a 100% B response rate, I'm also getting a 100% "wtf are people seriously arguing about that?" response rate.

I've asked two friends irl who are die-hard simpsons fans, one said A and one said B (interestingly the one who said B went wtf at A)

however the one who said A is a witty comedic super star irl so I trust her opinion more tbh

tried this on fb and the only response i got was my little brother who guessed A. i figure our common upbringing has somehow shifted us towards this interpretation

According to facebook fan pages us A's are still in the minority. Life's lonely when you're right:
A vs. B

consensus is not gonna get us the right answer here, everyone agreeing that 'B' is correct is.

It's interesting how everyone I've shown this to has not only said B but also had this attitude of like "Wait how could it not be B? Viking at sleep? That is fucking stupid, and the people who are arguing that don't understand how language works"

Yeah, pretty interesting how Bs are judgmental and As are open-minded.