From: Doug Harter's Initial Logs Processor Subject: HUMOR Digest - 7 Jun 1993 There are 73 messages totalling 6551 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. WRIGHT jokes 2. SEX 3. how to shoot yourself in foot 4. deep thoughts 5. Sayings 6. Murphy's Laws 7. oxymorons, sayings 8. Fletch 9. Sexual yearnings 10. IF IT'S... 11. Lawyers pg13 12. May be offensive to dwarfs 13. This Joke Rated PG13 14. Re: IF IT'S... 15. bit racist but can be applyed to any one... 16. GOLF JOKE 17. The three great lies 18. Laws 19. ANSWERING MACHINE MESSAGES 20. job interview questions 21. SORORITY GIRL JOKES (R) 22. Pickup lines (PG-13/R) 23. RULES for men (PG) 24. WEIGHTLOSS during SEX (PG-13) 25. wisdom 26. The three great lies 27. VARIATIONS OF PICKUP LINES-PG13/R 28. 3rd great lie 29. The Three Great Lies 30. Gags & Teasers 31. Additions to pick up lines PG-13 32. The third great lie 33. the third great lie 34. Scottish jokes 35. Condom Jokes in Namibia 36. Hillbilly Joke (PG) 37. VARIATION-PHONE MESSAGES 38. Re: the third great lie 39. The REAL third greatest lie 40. third great lie ... 41. Re: Greatest Lie 42. Klingon proverbs. 43. Re: Greatest lie 44. the other REAL 3rd greatest 45. ETHNIC JOKE - NO OFFENSE INTENDED 46. Life 1.G A collection of clean humor gather eight years ago, big 47. Liquor is Quicker (R+) 48. a poem or two 49. Riddles 50. Politics & sex (not offensive) 51. Childish, probably inoffensive 52. No subject given 53. More Scottish Jokes 54. rated PG 55. MORE PICK-UP LINES/MESSAGES 56. Tounge Twisters 57. Life 1.H A collection of clean humor gather eight years ago, 58. Doctor Joke 59. Re: Tongue Twisters (risque) 60. One liner mathematician joke 61. A Two-Time Loser (clean) 62. DEATH BY BUNDY--RATED R 63. gross bodily function joke 64. Ethnic humor 65. Shocking 6th grade story 66. Little Red Riding Person (PG for implied violence) 67. Yo Momma..... 68. Native jokes, R(offensive) 69. Re: Yo Momma..... 70. Trappists 71. Light bulbs (clean) 72. BALLAD OF MAE WEST'S BUST 73. Jargon (some 'adult' language) and want ads ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 10:51:37 -0400 From: Napalm Death Fan Subject: WRIGHT jokes SOME AMUSING STEVE WRIGHT SAYINGS (and look-alikes) From various sources, some from memory, grouped in a semi-random way. I excluded just a few that I thought weren't very funny. These are likely to have been modified in translation... Last updated: 910903 --- big picture --- A friend of mine once sent me a post card with a picture of the entire planet Earth taken from space. On the back it said, "Wish you were here." I'm moving to Mars next week, so if you have any boxes... It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to have to paint it. Cross country skiing is great if you live in a small country. --- banks --- I went to the bank and asked to borrow a cup of money. They said, "What for?" I said, "I'm going to buy some sugar." I saw a bank that said "24 Hour Banking", but I don't have that much time. --- museums --- I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from the statues that are in all the other museums. I like to go to art museums and name the untitled paintings... Boy With Pail... Kitten On Fire. --- restaurants --- I went to a restaurant that serves "breakfast at any time". So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance. I went to this restaurant last night that was set up like a big buffet in the shape of an Ouija board. You'd think about what kind of food you want, and the table would move across the floor to it. There's a pizza place near where I live that sells only slices. in the back you can see a guy tossing a triangle in the air. --- stores --- I went to a general store. They wouldn't let me buy anything specifically. I worked in a health food store once. A guy came in and asked me, "If I melt dry ice, can I take a bath without getting wet?" I went to a 7-11 and asked for a 2x4 and a box of 3x5's. The clerk said, "ten-four." I was in the grocery store. I saw a sign that said "pet supplies". So I did. Then I went outside and saw a sign that said "compact cars". I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, "Hey, the sign says you're open 24 hours." He said, "Yes, but not in a row." I love to go shopping. I love to freak out salespeople. They ask me if they can help me, and I say, "Have you got anything I'd like?" Then they ask me what size I need, and I say, "Extra medium." I saw a small bottle of cologne and asked if it was for sale. She said, "It's free with purchase." I asked her if anyone bought anything today. I met this wonderful girl at Macy's. She was buying clothes and I was putting Slinkies on the escalator. There was a power outage at a department store yesterday. Twenty people were trapped on the escalators. I bought my brother some gift-wrap for Christmas. I took it to the Gift Wrap department and told them to wrap it, but in a different print so he would know when to stop unwrapping. --- appliances --- For my birthday I got a humidifier and a de-humidifier... I put them in the same room and let them fight it out. Ever notice how irons have a setting for *permanent* press? I don't get it... I couldn't find the remote control to the remote control. I invented the cordless extension cord. --- telephones --- I saw a close friend of mine the other day... He said, "Stephen, why haven't you called me?" I said, "I can't call everyone I want. My new phone has no five on it." He said, "How long have you had it?" I said, "I don't know... my calendar has no sevens on it." I plugged my phone in where the blender used to be. I called someone. They went "Aaaaahhhh..." Today I dialed a wrong number... The other person said, "Hello?" and I said, "Hello, could I speak to Joey?"... They said, "Uh... I don't think so... he's only 2 months old." I said, "I'll wait." I don't like the sound of my phone ringing so I put my phone inside my fish tank. I can't hear it, but every time I get a call I see the fish go like this <<<>>><<>><<<<. I go down to the pet store -- "Gimme another ten guppies, I got a lotta calls yesterday." --- apartments --- My roommate got a pet elephant. Then it got lost. It's in the apartment somewhere. I installed a skylight in my apartment.... The people who live above me are furious! All of the people in my building are insane. The guy above me designs synthetic hairballs for ceramic cats. The lady across the hall tried to rob a department store... with a pricing gun... She said, "Give me all of the money in the vault, or I'm marking down everything in the store." While I was gone, somebody rearranged on the furniture in my bedroom. They put it in *exactly* the same place it was. When I told my roommate, he said: "Do I know you?" --- houses --- In my house there's this light switch that doesn't do anything. Every so often I would flick it on and off just to check. Yesterday, I got a call from a woman in Germany. She said, "Cut it out." Doing a little work around the house. I put fake brick wallpaper over a real brick wall, just so I'd be the only one who knew. People come over and I'm gonna say, "Go ahead, touch it... it feels real." In my house on the ceilings I have paintings of the rooms above... so I never have to go upstairs. One time the power went out in my house and I had to use the flash on my camera to see my way around. I made a sandwich and took fifty pictures of my face. The neighbors thought there was lightning in my house. All the plants in my house are dead -- I shot them last night. I was teasing them by watering them with ice cubes. I have a microwave fireplace in my house... The other night I laid down in front of the fire for the evening in two minutes. Winny and I lived in a house that ran on static electricity... If you wanted to run the blender, you had to rub balloons on your head. If you wanted to cook, you had to pull off a sweater real quick. I bought a house, on a one-way dead-end road. I don't know how I got there. I went to the hardware store and bought some used paint. It was in the shape of a house. I also bought some batteries, but they weren't included. So I had to buy them again. My house is made out of balsa wood, so when I want to scare the neighborhood kids I lift it over my head and tell them to get out of my yard or I'll throw it at them. The other night I came home late, and tried to unlock my house with my car keys. I started the house up. So, I drove it around for a while. I was speeding, and a cop pulled me over. He asked where I lived. I said, "right here, officer". Later, I parked it on the freeway, got out, and yelled at all the cars, "Get out of my driveway!" My house is on the median strip of a highway. You don't really notice, except I have to leave the driveway doing 60 MPH. --- cars and driving --- For a while I didn't have a car... I had a helicopter... no place to park it, so I just tied it to a lamp post and left it running... (slow glance upward) I hooked up my accelerator pedal in my car to my brake lights. I hit the gas, people behind me stop, and I'm gone. I replaced the headlights in my car with strobe lights, so it looks like I'm the only one moving. I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window. I put a new engine in my car, but forgot to take the old one out. Now my car goes 500 miles per hour. The harmonica sounds *amazing*. I watched the Indy 500, and I was thinking that if they left earlier they wouldn't have to go so fast. I had to stop driving my car for a while... the tires got dizzy. My neighbor has a circular driveway... he can't get out. I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn't park anywhere near the place. I have an answering machine in my car. It says, "I'm home now. But leave a message and I'll call when I'm out." Last year we drove across the country. We switched on the driving... every half mile... We had one cassette tape to listen to on the entire trip... I don't remember what it was. I saw a sign: "Rest Area 25 Miles". That's pretty big. Some people must be really tired. A cop stopped me for speeding. He said, "Why were you going so fast?" I said, "See this thing my foot is on? It's called an accelerator. When you push down on it, it sends more gas to the engine. The whole car just takes right off. And see this thing? This steers it." I was going 70 miles an hour and got stopped by a cop who said, "Do you know the speed limit is 55 miles per hour?" "Yes, officer, but I wasn't going to be out that long..." One time a cop pulled me over for running a stop sign. He said, "Didn't you see the stop sign?" I said, "Yeah, but I don't believe everything I read." I got my driver's license photo taken out of focus on purpose. Now when I get pulled over the cop looks at it (moving it nearer and farther, trying to see it clearly)... and says, "Here, you can go." The judge asked, "What do you plead?" I said, "Insanity, your honour, who in their right mind would park in the passing lane?" When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if I'm leaving. Yesterday I parked my car in a tow-away zone... when I came back the entire area was missing. --- sleeping --- I can remember the first time I had to go to sleep. Mom said, "Steven, time to go to sleep." I said, "But I don't know how." She said, "It's real easy. Just go down to the end of tired and hang a left." So I went down to the end of tired, and just out of curiosity I hung a right. My mother was there, and she said "I thought I told you to go to sleep." I hate it when my foot falls asleep during the day because that means it's going to be up all night. When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, "Did you sleep good?" I said, "No, I made a few mistakes." I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering. One night I walked home very late and fell asleep in somebody's satellite dish. My dreams were showing up on TV's all over the world. My girlfriend does her nails with white-out. When she's asleep, I go over there and write misspelled words on them. --- socks --- I got up one morning and couldn't find my socks, so I called Information. She said, "Hello, Information." I said, "I can't find my socks." She said, "They're behind the couch." And they were! I went into this bar and sat down next to a pretty girl. She looked at me and said, "Hey, you have two different colored socks on." I said, "Yeah, I know, but to me they're the same because I go by thickness." --- records --- I bought a self learning record to learn Spanish. I turned it on and went to sleep; the record got stuck. The next day I could only stutter in Spanish. I was going to tape some records onto a cassette, but I got the wires backwards. I erased all of the records. When I returned them to my friend, he said, "Hey, these records are all blank." --- fishing --- Last year I went fishing with Salvador Dali. He was using a dotted line. He caught every other fish. There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore looking like an idiot. --- dogs --- I bought a dog the other day... I named him Stay. It's fun to call him... "Come here, Stay! Come here, Stay!" He went insane. Now he just ignores me and keeps typing. I put contact lenses in my dog's eyes. They had little pictures of cats on them. Then I took one out and he ran around in circles. The other day, I was walking my dog around my building... on the ledge. Some people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of widths. I spilled spot remover on my dog. He's gone now. --- chemistry --- If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate. (Referring to a glass of water:) I mixed this myself. Two parts H, one part O. I don't trust anybody! They say we're 98% water. We're that close to drowning... (picks up his glass of water from the stool)... I like to live on the edge... I bought some powdered water, but I don't know what to add to it. --- childhood --- I was born by Caesarian section... but not so you'd notice. It's just that when I leave a house, I go out through the window. When I was little, my grandfather used to make me stand in a closet for five minutes without moving. He said it was elevator practice. I didn't get a toy train like the other kids. I got a toy subway instead. You couldn't see anything, but every now and then you'd hear this rumbling noise go by. When I was a kid, I went to the store and asked the guy, "Do you have any toy train schedules?" When I was a little kid we had a sand box. It was a quicksand box. I was an only child... eventually. When I was five years old I was on a merry go round. There was a gunshot nearby. The horses stampeded. There I was running down the street on a purple wooden horse. When I was eight, I played Little League. I was on first; I stole third; I went straight across. Earlier that week, I learned that the shortest distance between two points was a direct line. I took advantage of that knowledge. I used to own an ant farm but had to give it up. I couldn't find tractors small enough to fit it. My friend Winnie is a procrastinator. He didn't get his birthmark until he was eight years old. My school colors were clear. We used to say, "I'm not naked, I'm in the band." When I have a kid, I want to buy one of those strollers for twins. Then put the kid in and run around, looking frantic. When he gets older, I'd tell him he used to have a brother, but he didn't obey. Babies don't need a vacation, but I still see them at the beach... it pisses me off! I'll go over to a little baby and say, "What are you doing here? You haven't worked a day in your life!" My friend has a baby. I'm recording all the noises he makes so later I can ask him what he meant. --- not-all-there --- You know how it is when you're reading a book and falling asleep, you're reading, reading... and all of a sudden you notice your eyes are closed? I'm like that all the time. Well, you know when you're rocking in a rocking chair, and you go so far that you almost fall over backwards, but at the last instant you catch yourself? That's how I feel all the time. Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before. Lots of comedians have people they try to mimic. I mimic my shadow. I got a new shadow. I had to get rid of the other one... it wasn't doing what I was doing. If you can't hear me, it's because I'm in parentheses. Four years ago... no, it was yesterday. Today I... No, that wasn't me. Sometimes I... No, I don't. --- suicide --- I once tried to commit suicide by jumping off a building... I changed my mind at the last minute, so I just flipped over and landed on my feet. Two little kittens nearby saw what happened and one turned to the other and said, "See, that's how it's done." I was going to commit suicide the other day, but I must not have been serious because I brought a beach towel. --- books --- I was reading the dictionary. I thought it was a poem about everything. What's another word for Thesaurus? Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song? My grandfather invented Cliff's Notes. It all started back in 1912... Well, to make a long story short ... I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers done. I'm writing an unauthorized autobiography. I wrote a few children's books... not on purpose. --- miscellaneous one-liners --- After they make styrofoam, what do they ship it in? Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. I broke my arm trying to fold a bed. It wasn't the kind that folds. I like to reminisce with people I don't know. I like to skate on the other side of the ice. I lost a button hole today. I made wine out of raisins so I wouldn't have to wait for it to age. I saw a man with a wooden leg, and a real foot. I saw a subliminal advertising executive, but only for a second. I saw a tree fall in the woods, and I didn't hear it. I took a baby shower. I used to be a bartender at the Betty Ford Clinic. I was skydiving horizontally. I washed mud, off of mud. I'm so hyper... (said with a very dull voice) If you saw a heat wave, would you wave back? If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer? My VCR flashes 01:35, 01:35, 01:35, ... "So, do you live around here often?" Women... can't live with 'em... can't shoot 'em. You can't have everything. Where would you put it? --- miscellaneous --- My dental hygienist is cute. Every time I visit, I eat a whole package of Oreo cookies while waiting in the lobby. Sometimes she has to cancel the rest of the afternoon's appointments. One day I got on the usual bus, and when I stepped in, I saw the most gorgeous blond Chinese girl... I sat beside her. I said, "Hi," and she said, "Hi," and then I said, "Nice day, isn't it?," and she said, "I saw my analyst today and he says I have a problem." So I asked, "What's the problem?" She replied, "I can't tell you. I don't even know you..." I said, "Well sometimes it's good to tell your problems to a perfect stranger on a bus." So she said, "Well, my analyst said I'm a nymphomaniac and I only like Jewish cowboys... by the way, my name is Denise." I said, "Hello, Denise. My name is Bucky Goldstein..." I got into an elevator at work and this man followed in after me... I pushed "1" and he just stood there... I said, "Hi, where you going?" He said, "Phoenix." So I pushed Phoenix. A few seconds later the doors opened, two tumbleweeds blew in... we were in downtown Phoenix. I looked at him and said, "You know, you're the kind of guy I want to hang around with." We got into his car and drove out to his shack in the desert. Then the phone rang. He said, "You get it." I picked it up and said, "Hello?"... The other side said, "Is this Steven Wright?"... I said, "Yes..." The guy said, "Hi, I'm Mr. Jones, the student loan director from your bank. It seems you have missed your last 17 payments, and the university you attended said that they received none of the $17,000 we loaned you. We would just like to know what happened to the money?" I said, "Mr. Jones, I'll give it to you straight. I gave all of the money to my friend Slick, and with it he built a nuclear weapon... and I would appreciate it if you never called me again." The other day when I was walking through the woods, I saw a rabbit standing in front of a candle making shadows of people on a tree. I had a dream that all the victims of The Pill came back... boy, were they mad! The Stones, I love the Stones. I watch them whenever I can. Fred, Barney... I like to fill my tub up with water, then turn the shower on and act like I'm in a submarine that's been hit. It doesn't matter what temperature the room is, it's always room temperature. I have two very rare photographs. One is a picture of Houdini locking his keys in his car. The other is a rare photograph of Norman Rockwell beating up a child. I have the world's largest collection of seashells. I keep it on all the beaches of the world... perhaps you've seen it. I went to the eye doctor and found out I needed glasses for reading. So, I got some flip-up contact lenses. Winny would spend all of his time practicing limbo. He got pretty good. He could go under a rug. I filled out an application that said, "In Case Of Emergency Notify". I wrote "Doctor"... What's my mother going to do? I had just received my degree in Calcium Anthropology... the study of milkmen. He was a multi-millionaire. Wanna know how he made all of his money? He designed the little diagrams that tell which way to put batteries in. I stayed up all night playing poker with tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died. A friend of mine is into Voodoo Acupuncture. You don't have to go. You'll just be walking down the street, and... ooooohhhhhh, that's much better... I had a friend who was a clown. When he died, all his friends went to the funeral in one car. I'd like to sing you a song now about my old girlfriend. It's called, "They'll Find Her When the Leaves Blow Away 'Cause I'm Not Raking 'Til Spring." My girlfriend asked me how long I was going to be gone on this tour. I said, "the whole time." It's a good thing we have gravity, or else when birds died they'd just stay right up there. Hunters would be all confused. The sun got confused about daylight savings time. It rose twice. Everything had two shadows. I wrote a song, but I can't read music so I don't know what it is. Every once in a while I'll be listening to the radio and I say, "I think I might have written that." When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked if I had any firearms with me. I said, "Well, what do you need?" Some people think George is weird, because he has sideburns behind his ears. I think George is weird, because he has false teeth. with braces on them. George is a radio announcer, and when he walks under a bridge... you can't hear him talk. If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happen if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it? I saw a sign at a gas station. It said "help wanted". There was another sign below it that said "self service". So I hired myself. Then I made myself the boss. I gave myself a raise. I paid myself. Then I quit. Every so often, I like to go to the window, look up, and smile for a satellite picture. I used to be an airline pilot. I got fired because I kept locking the keys in the plane. They caught me on an 80 foot stepladder with a coathanger. In Vegas, I got into a long argument with the man at the roulette wheel over what I considered to be an odd number. I have a map of the United States... actual size. It says, "Scale: 1 mile = 1 mile." I spent last summer folding it. I also have a full-size map of the world. I hardly ever unroll it. Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID that he just whipped out a quarter? I want to get a tatoo of myself on my entire body, only 2" taller. I'm kinda tired. I was up all night trying to round off infinity. Then I got bored and went out and painted passing lines on curved roads. This is my impression of a bowling ball... (drags the mike along the floor, then lifts it)... gutter... I was watching the Superbowl with my 92 year old grandfather. The team scored a touchdown. They showed the instant replay. He thought they scored another one. I was gonna tell him, but I figured the game *he* was watching was better. I owed my friend George $25. For about three weeks I owed it to him. The whole time I had the money on me -- he didn't know it. Walking through New York City, 2:30 in the morning and got held up. He said, "Gimme all your money." I said, "Wait a minute." I said, "George, here's the 25 dollars I owe you." The the thief took a thousand dollars out of his own money and he gave it to George. At gunpoint made me borrow a thousand dollars from George. ___________________________________ From: rods@mentor.com (Rod Schmidt) Date: 22 Jan 1990 Subject: FAKE Steven Wright jokes [original; edited] Newsgroups: rec.humor Here are my categories, with examples (his): ENGLISH: I had some eyeglasses. I was walking down the street when suddenly the prescription ran out. I got food poisoning today. I don't know when I'll use it. REVERSALS / SYMMETRY: I put my air conditioner in backwards. It got cold outside. The weatherman on TV was confused. "It was supposed to be hot today." I was in a job interview and I opened a book and started reading. Then I said to the guy, "Let me ask you a question. If you are in a spaceship that is traveling at the speed of light, and you turn on the headlights, does anything happen?" He said, "I don't know." I said, "I don't want your job." SIMILARITY / ANALOGY: I was in the first submarine. Instead of a periscope, they had a kaleidoscope. "We're surrounded." I went camping and borrowed a circus tent by mistake. I didn't notice until I got it set up. People complained because they couldn't see the lake. WRONG METHODS / REASONS / MECHANISMS: When I turned two I was really anxious, because I'd doubled my age in a year. I thought, if this keeps up, by the time I'm six I'll be ninety. Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen. IDEMPOTENCE / ADDITION OF EFFECTS (REPETITION): I put instant coffee in a microwave oven and almost went back in time. It's a fine night to have an evening. Even snakes are afraid of snakes. SELF: I can't stop thinking like this. This isn't all true. You know how it is when you're walking up the stairs, and you get to the top, and you think there's one more step? I'm like that all the time. NAAAHH: I put hardwood floors on top of wall-to-wall carpet. Tinsel is really snakes' mirrors. TRIVIALIZATION: Two babies were born on the same day at the same hospital. They lay there and looked at each other. Their families came and took them away. Eighty years later, by a bizarre coincidence, they lay in the same hospital, on their deathbeds, next to each other. One of them looked at the other and said, "So. What did you think?" My grandfather gave me a watch. It doesn't have any hands or numbers. He says it's very accurate. I asked him what time it was. You can guess what he told me. ___________________________________ These are "fake" Steve Wright sayings, by Rod Schmidt: I planted some bird seed. A bird came up. Now I don't know what to feed it. I made a chocolate cake with white chocolate. Then I took it to a potluck. I stood in line for some cake. They said, "Do you want white cake or chocolate cake?" I said, "Yes". My aunt gave me a walkie-talkie for my birthday. She says if I'm good, she'll give me the other one next year. I eat swiss cheese from the inside out. I had amnesia once or twice. I bought a million lottery tickets. I won a dollar. I got a chain letter by fax. It's very simple. You just fax a dollar bill to everybody on the list. My friend Sam has one leg. I went to his house. I couldn't go up the stairs. The sun never sets on the British Empire. But it rises every morning. The sky must get awfully crowded. I brought a mirror to Lovers' Lane. I told everybody I'm Narcissus. I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five. You know how it is when you decide to lie and say the check is in the mail, and then you remember it really is? I'm like that all the time. How many people does it take to change a searchlight bulb? The sky already fell. Now what? I wear my heart on my sleeve. I wear my liver on my pant leg. I still have my Christmas Tree. I looked at it today. Sure enough, I couldn't see any forests. If you can wave a fan, and you can wave a club, can you wave a fan club? When I was in boy scouts, I slipped on the ice and hurt my ankle. A little old lady had to help me across the street. If you write the word "monkey" a million times, do you start to think you're Shakespeare? Smoking cures weight problems... eventually... I had fried octopus last night. You have to be really quiet when you eat it. Otherwise, it emits a cloud of black smoke and falls on the floor. Yesterday I told a chicken to cross the road. It said, "what for?" I xeroxed my watch. Now I have time to spare. I took a course in speed waiting. Now I can wait an hour in only ten minutes. I eat swiss cheese. But I only nibble on it. I make the holes bigger. I moved into an all-electric house. I forgot and left the porch light on all day. When I got home the front door wouldn't open. I got a garage door opener. It can't close. Just open. You know how it is when you go to be the subject of a psychology experiment, and nobody else shows up, and you think maybe that's part of the experiment? I'm like that all the time. I went over to the neighbor's and asked to borrow a cup of salt. "What are you making?" "A salt lick." There aren't enough days in the weekend. My friend Sally is a nudist. I went to her house. The closets have no doors. The walls are covered with see-through wallpaper. Sally plays strip poker. Whenever she loses, she has to put something on. The sky is falling... no, I'm tipping over backwards. Droughts are because god didn't pay his water bill. Is "tired old cliche" one? If you had a million Shakespeares, could they write like a monkey? if you tell a joke in the forest, but nobody laughs, was it a joke? It only rains straight down. God doesn't do windows. When I get bored I go to a Seven-Eleven and ask for a two-by-four and a box of three-by-fives. The sign said "eight items or less". So I changed my name to Les. Yesterday I saw a chicken crossing the road. I asked it why. It told me it was none of my business. I rented a lottery ticket. I won a million dollars. But I had to give it back. In school, every period ends with a bell. Every sentence ends with a period. Every crime ends with a sentence. I xeroxed my watch. Now I can give away free watches. I xeroxed a mirror. Now I have an extra xerox machine. I took a course in speed reading. Then I got Reader's Digest on microfilm. By the time I got the machine set up, I was done. Yesterday I found out what doughnuts are for. You put them on doughbolts. They hold dough airplanes together. For kids, they make erector sets out of play-dough. I went to a haunted house, looked under the kitchen table, and found spirit gum. I went to a garage sale. "How much for the garage?" "It's not for sale." I went to San Francisco. I found someone's heart. I know the guy who writes all those bumper stickers. He hates New York. A beautiful woman moved in next door. So I went over and returned a cup of sugar. "You didn't borrow this." "I will." I had my coathangers spayed. I washed a sock. Then I put it in the dryer. When I took it out, it was gone. The Bermuda Triangle got tired of warm weather. It moved to Alaska. Now Santa Claus is missing. I went to a fancy french restaurant called "Deja Vu." The headwaiter said, "Don't I know you?" Last week I forgot how to ride a bicycle. I took lessons in bicycle riding. But I could only afford half of them. Now I can ride a unicycle. ___________________________________ Date: 1 Sep 91 From: kirlik@chmsr.gatech.edu (Alex Kirlik) [more look-alikes] I got a calculator and now I can't add without it. I got a spellchecker and I can't write without it anymore. I got a blowdryer and now my hair won't dry on its own. Get a bunch of those 3-D glasses and wear them at the same time. Use enough to get it up to a good, say, 10 or 12-D. I heard that in relativity theory space and time are the same thing. Einstein discovered this when he kept showing up three miles late for his meetings. I worked as a lumberjack for a lumber company. All of the trees were just 10 feet high and 1/4 inch thick. We made paneling. Called a blind date to set up a meeting at a restaurant. I said, "I'll be the one in the leather jacket." She said, "I'll be the one drinking sake." Turned out it was one of those biker-sushi places. We never met. Wrote my own communications software in LISP. Got a phone bill for a thousand dollars. My computer keeps calling itself. Called a blind date to set up a meeting at a restaurant. I said, "I'll be the one driving the Mercedes and wearing a Rolex." Never found her, but when I got home my place was robbed. ___________________________________ And here's one from arensb@cvl.umd.edu (Andrew Arensburger): I spent all my money on a FAX machine. Now I can only FAX collect. And from cth@hpfcso (CT Hart): What are imitation rhinestones? If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know? If God dropped acid, would he see people? ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 10:52:11 -0400 From: Napalm Death Fan Subject: SEX Your Favorite Color is the Key to Your Sexual Life The cloths you wear, your home furnishings and the car you drive all give clues to your sexual personality. The key is the colors you select for your possessions. Most people claim they haven't a favorite color. But look around you, and you'll notice a pattern, especially in your clothing and home decor. The predominant color for you is the one that appears most frequently - - -- it's the one that mirrors the sexual you. A panel of psychologists, speaking at the 1975 Home Interior Design Forum, explained the association between color and sexual patterns. RED: People who like red tend to be tigers in the sack. They are easily aroused and enjoy sex in every way imaginable. Once the sexual spark is ignited, it may take hours to extinguish. When two reds get together, the ensuing erotica could make Lady Chatterly blush. Lovers of red tend to be aggressors and weaker colors should be aware. YELLOW: If you tend to favor yellow, your sexual drives are complex and turn toward the adaptable. The favorite color of homosexuals is yellow. But don't panic -- not everyone who wears yellow is queer. In most cases the person will consent to the stronger partner's desires in a passive manner. You will never enjoy sex to the fullest, but you will never turn down an invitation from somebody you enjoy or admire. PINK: Persons who like pink show a reluctance to mature in sexual matters: women tend to tease, to promise more than they intend to deliver. In some cases they flaunt their femininity -- but because they secretly hate men. A great percentage of prostitutes boast entire wardrobes in pink. Men who like pink are the philanderers and flirts. They are the type who will make three dates for the same evening and not keep one, preferring to pick up a dish in some bar instead. Women whose husbands like pink should keep a secret nest egg. PURPLE: Lovers of purple frequently consider themselves to be too sophisticated for a fun romp in the sack. Women sometimes are the type who hate to mess their hair. Men are business-like in their approach to lovemaking. In both sexes purple partners are more concerned with their fulfillment than anyone else's gratification. BLACK: Black color preferences point to black sex (not necessarily meaning black partners). These people are the misfits of the sex world and seek out each other in kinship. They tend to prefer perverted sex and are usually masochistic or sadistic in nature. They are moody people and often perform at their peak when under stress or during unhappy times. Police psychiatrists claim that sex offenders prefer the color black. And it is no coincidence that the uniform of mosters and teenage gangs is black attire. GREEN: Those who prefer green are fresh and innocent in their approach to sex. Women who love green will always make love like virgins all their life. And a man may always be a trifle clumsy and awkward but in a charming and endearing sort of way. Green lovers are gentle, but not passionate. If chosen as a mate, one will never need worry about infidelity. ORANGE: Lovers of the color orange lean toward sexual fantasies. The sex act is regarded as a dramatic one-act play in which they are the star. Foreplay is as important as the act of love. They whisper sweet nothings, meaningless dialogue; they feel it is their image. Orange people often do not experience orgasm -- but they put on a darn good act. Men tend to pull their partner's hair, and women leave red welts on the sex partner's back. BROWN: If you love brown, you're a real treasure for the right mate. Brown lovers tend to be warm and deep, sensitive to the needs and desires of their partners. Sex is a 24 hour a day thing. Where you can't say "I love you" often enough. Snuggling by the fire, walking in the rain or catching snowflakes on their tongue is a turn-on to a lover of brown. They need lots of time and privacy to make love. But their emotions are such that one harsh word could end the affair. GREY: The color grey a preferred by people who are indecisive. They can't get excited about anything -- including color -- so they choose a noncommittal shade. Men who prefer grey look at sex as a way of relieving tension -- but nothing more, nothing less. It's wham, bam, thank you ma'am. Women don't make love, they have intercourse. And for one of two reasons only: to accommodate their mate, or to become pregnant. They count the cracks in the bedroom plaster until the sex act is over with and done. But when teamed with another color, the grey spouse considers the other's infidelity a blessing. When a grey marries another grey, the marriage is made in heaven. BLUE: Lovers of blue are wonderful sex partners. They are sinners, affectionate and sensitive to their partner's needs. They consider love making a fine art and their approach is elegant. Men who love blue are like concert pianists, delicately ravaging their partner like they would play a baby grand. Women in the blue category enjoy sex to the fullest. They are exciting partners but their passion may be compared to a tidal wave rather than firery aggression. Both women and men enjoy foreplay and the aftermath of lovemaking, as much as the sex act itself. In marriage a blue person is a wonderful mate - - -- never seeking outside interests. WHITE: If a person is infatuated with white, sex often seems filthy. These people are puritanical in nature. French kissing is obscene and to make love in the daylight in unheard of. Women who love white will undress beneath the covers. Men will shower before and after the sex act. These people still use pet names for their genitals. ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 10:53:02 -0400 From: Napalm Death Fan Subject: how to shoot yourself in foot ****************************************** ** How to shoot yourself in the foot: ** ** Which language is right for you? ** ****************************************** Assembler: You shoot yourself in the foot. Ada: The Department of Defense shoots you in the foot after offering you a blindfold and a last cigarrette. BASIC (interpreted): You shoot yourself in the foot with a water pistol until your leg is waterlogged and rots off. BASIC (compiled): You shoot yourself in the foot with a BB using a SCUD missile launcher. C++: You create a dozen instances of yourself and shoot them all in the foot. Not knowing which feet are virtual, medical care is impossible. COBOL: USE HANDGUN.COLT(45), AIM AT LEG.FOOT, THEN WITH ARM.HAND.FINGER ON HANDGUN.COLT(TRIGGER) PREFORM SQUEEZE, RETURN HANDGUN.COLT TO HIP.HOLSTER. cah: After searching the manual until your foot falls asleep, you shoot the computer and switch to C. dBASE: You buy a gun. Bullets are only available from another company and are promised to work so you buy them. Then you find out that the next version of the gun is the one that is scheduled to shoot bullets. Fortran: You shoot yourself in each toe, interactively, until you run out of toes. You shoot the sixth bullet anyway, since no exception-processing was anticipated. Modula-2: You perform a shooting on what might currently be a foot with what might currently be a bullet shot by what might currently be a gun. Pascal: Same as Modula-2, except the bullet is not of the right type for the gun and your hand is blown off. PL/1: After consuming all system resources, including bullets, the data processing department doubles its size, acquires two new mainframes, and drops the original on your foot. Smalltalk, Actor, etc: After playing with the graphics for three weeks, the programming manager shoots you in the head. Snobol: Grab your foot with your hand and rewrite your hand to be a bullet. ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 10:53:22 -0400 From: Napalm Death Fan Subject: deep thoughts DEEP THOUGHTS Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis. Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind." Basically, it's made up of two separate words-"mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind. I hope if dogs ever take over the world, and they choose a king, they don't just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with some good ideas. It takes a big man to cry, but it takes an even bigger man to laugh at that man. I guess we were all guilty, in a way. We all shot him, we all skinned him, and we all got a complimentary bumper sticker that said, "I helped skin Bob." I bet the main reason the police keep people away from a plane crash is they don't want anybody walking in and lying down in the crash stuff, then, when somebody comes up, act like they just woke up and go, "What was THAT?!" The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face. Ambition is like a frog sitting on a Venus Flytrap. The flytrap can bite and bite, but it won't bother the frog because it only has little tiny plant teeth. But some other stuff could happen and it could be like ambition. I'd rather be rich than stupid. If you were a poor Indian with no weapons, and a bunch of conquistadors came up to you and asked where the gold was, I don't think it would be a good idea to say, "I swallowed it. So sue me." If you define cowardice as running away at the first sign of danger, screaming and tripping and begging for mercy, then yes, Mr. Brave Man, I guess I'm a coward. I bet one legend that keeps recurring throughout history, in every culture, in the story of Popeye. When you go in for a job interview, I think a good thing to ask is if they ever press charges. To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other. What is it that makes a complete stranger dive into an icy river to save a solid gold baby? Maybe we'll never know. We tend to scoff at the beliefs of the ancients. But we can't scoff at them personally, to their faces, and this is what annoys me. Probably the earliest flyswatters were nothing more than some sort of striking surface attached to the end of a long stick. I think someone should have had the decency to tell me the luncheon was free. To make someone run out with potato salad in his hand, pretending he's throwing up, is not what I call hospitality. To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started, and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad. As I bit into the nectarine, it had a crisp juiciness about it that was very pleasurable-until I realized it wasn't a nectarine at all, but A HUMAN HEAD!!! Most people don't realize that large pieces of coral, which have been painted brown and attached to the skull by common wood screws, can make a child look like a deer. If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason. Better not take a dog on the space shuttle, because if he sticks his head out when you're coming home his face might burn up. You know what would make a good story? Something about a clown who makes people happy, but inside he's real sad. Also, he has severe diarrhea. Sometimes when I feel like killing someone, I do a little trick to calm myself down. I'll go over to the persons house and ring the doorbell. When the person comes to the door, I'm gone, but you know what I've left on the porch? A jack-o-lantern with a knife stuck in the side of it's head with a note that says "You." After that I usually feel a lot better, and no harm done. If you're a horse, and someone gets on you, and falls off, and then gets right back on you, I think you should buck him off right away. If you ever teach a yodeling class, probably the hardest thing is to keep the students from just trying to yodel right off. You see, we build to that. If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey, free dummy. I'd like to see a nude opera, because when they hit those high notes, I bet you can really see it in those genitals. Anytime I see something screech across a room and latch onto someone's neck, and the guy screams and tries to get it off, I have to laugh, because what is that thing? He was a cowboy, mister, and he loved the land. He loved it so much he made a woman out of dirt and married her. But when he kissed her, she disintegrated. Later, at the funeral, when the preacher said, "Dust to dust," some people laughed, and the cowboy shot them. At his hanging, he told the others, "I'll be waiting for you in heaven-with a gun." The memories of my family outings are still a source of strength to me. I remember we'd all pile into the car-I forget what kind it was-and drive and drive. I'm not sure where we'd go, but I think there were some trees there. The smell of something was strong in the air as we played whatever sport we played. I remember a bigger, older guy we called "Dad." We'd eat some stuff, or not, and then I think we went home. I guess some things never leave you. If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "probably because of something you did." Contrary to what most people say, the most dangerous animal in the world is not the lion or the tiger or even the elephant. It's a shark riding on an elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see. As we were driving, we saw a sign that said "Watch for Rocks." Martha said it should read "Watch for Pretty Rocks." I told her she should write in her suggestion to the highway department, but she started saying it was a joke-just to get out of writing a simple letter! And I thought I was lazy! One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said, "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over the the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late. If you saw two guys named Hambone and Flipper, which one would you think liked dolphins the most? I'd say Flippy, wouldn't you? You'd be wrong, though. It's Hambone. Laurie got offended because I used the word "puke." But to me, that's what her dinner tasted like. We used to laugh at Grandpa when he'd head off and go fishing. But we wouldn't be laughing that evening when he'd come back with a whore he picked up in town. I wish a robot would get elected president. That way, when he came to town, we could all take a shot at him and not feel too bad. As the evening sky faded from a salmon color to a sort of flint gray, I thought back to the salmon I caught that morning, and how gray he was, and how I named him Flint. If you're a young Mafia gangster out on your first date, I bet it's real embarrassing if someone tries to kill you. Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny. If you go parachuting, and your parachute doesn't open, and your friends are all watching you fall, I think a funny gag would be to pretend you were swimming. When I was a kid, my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school we'd all go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of us. It wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear. I think people tend to forget that trees are living creatures. They're sort of like dogs. Huge, quiet, motionless dogs, with bark instead of fur. ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 10:54:38 -0400 From: Napalm Death Fan Subject: Sayings Understanding Your Student WHAT YOUR STUDENT SAYS WHAT YOUR STUDENT MEANS - ---------------------- ----------------------- Your course is too tough I haven't been doing my homework Writing exams makes me nervous I haven't been doing my homework You're always trying to show us I'm embarrassed because I'm not how smart you are prepared again I understand the overall concept I haven't got a clue about the of this topic current topic I would like to have had more time I didn't read it to study the text I have some concerns about the I hope this won't be on the exam theory upon which this lecture is based There are some aspects of the I sure as hell ain't gonna read that chapter that I would like to hear many pages, so maybe you could just more about go over the highlights Your lectures are not strongly You mean I have to come to lectures enough linked to the text to get the notes? Your lecture is an interesting I fell asleep in class explanation of the text material You've failed to discuss some of What do you mean -- read on my own? the more relevant sections of the text I would like you to explain... I don't know anything about this stuff Do you have a minute to answer a Wanna listen to me whine for an hour? question about the assignment? The exam was unfair I didn't study I need an extension I started this morning and just realized that I can't finish it in 3 hours You're the worst prof I ever had You make us work hard The prof I had last semester was He didn't make us work much better I'll never take another course I've failed out of school from you again ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 10:54:05 -0400 From: Napalm Death Fan Subject: Murphy's Laws MURPHY'S LAWS ON SEX -------------------- 1. The more beautiful the woman is who loves you, the easier it is to leave her with no hard feelings. 2. Nothing improves with age. 3. No matter how many times you've had it, if it's offered take it, because it'll never be quite the same again. 4. Sex has no calories. 5. Sex takes up the least amount of time and causes the most amount of trouble. 6. There is no remedy for sex but more sex. 7. Sex appeal is 50% what you've got and 50% what people think you've got. 8. No sex with anyone in the same office. 9. Sex is like snow; you never know how many inches you are going to get or how long it is going to last. 10. A man in the house is worth two in the street. 11. If you get them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow. 12. Virginity can be cured. 13. When a man's wife learns to understand him, she usually stops listening to him. 14. Never sleep with anyone crazier than yourself. 15. The qualities that most attract a woman to a man are usually the same ones she can't stand years later. 16. Sex is dirty only if it's done right. 17. It is always the wrong time of month. 18. The best way to hold a man is in your arms. 19. When the lights are out, all women are beautiful. 20. Sex is hereditary. If your parents never had it, chances are you won't either. 21. Sow your wild oats on Saturday night -- Then on Sunday pray for crop failure. 22. The younger the better. 23. The game of love is never called off on account of darkness. 24. It was not the apple on the tree but the pair on the ground that caused the trouble in the garden. 25. Sex discriminates against the shy and the ugly. 27. Before you find your handsome prince, you've got to kiss a lot of frogs. 28. There may be some things better than sex, and some things worse than sex. But there is nothing exactly like it. 29. Love your neighbor, but don't get caught. 30. Love is a hole in the heart. 31. If the effort that went in research on the female bosom had gone into our space program, we would now be running hot-dog stands on the moon. 32. Love is a matter of chemistry, sex is a matter of physics. 33. Do it only with the best. 34. Sex is a three-letter word which needs some old-fashioned four-letter words to convey its full meaning. 35. One good turn gets most of the blankets. 36. You cannot produce a baby in one month by impregnating nine women. 37. Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. 38. It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. 39. Thou shalt not commit adultery.....unless in the mood. 40. Never lie down with a woman who's got more troubles than you. 41. Abstain from wine, women, and song; mostly song. 42. Never argue with a women when she's tired -- or rested. 43. A woman never forgets the men she could have had; a man, the women he couldn't. 44. What matters is not the length of the wand, but the magic in the stick. 45. It is better to be looked over than overlooked. 46. Never say no. 47. A man can be happy with any woman as long as he doesn't love her. 48. Folks playing leapfrog must complete all jumps. 49. Beauty is skin deep; ugly goes right to the bone. 50. Never stand between a fire hydrant and a dog. 51. A man is only a man, but a good bicycle is a ride. 52. Love comes in spurts. 53. The world does not revolve on an axis. 54. Sex is one of the nine reasons for reincarnation; the other eight are unimportant. 55. Smile, it makes people wonder what you are thinking. 56. Don't do it if you can't keep it up. 57. There is no difference between a wise man and a fool when they fall in love. 58. Never go to bed mad, stay up and fight. 59. Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another. 60. "This won't hurt, I promise." ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 10:56:08 -0400 From: Napalm Death Fan Subject: oxymorons, sayings ( A friend sent me this...the reference at the end is, I believe, just a suggestion, not the source of it (this was put together by someone independ- ently).. ) {ed Many of these are not what is traditionally called an oxymoron on the net, but they are mostly worth it.} OXYMORON Ancient Greek : Oxus = "sharp" Moros = "dull" "Oxymoron" = a sharp dullness or a foolish wise. ...a self contradicting phrase. _____ When large numbers of men are unable to find work, unemployment results. Calvin Coolidge For those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like. Abraham Lincoln That that is is. Why is this thus ? What is the reason for this thusness ? Artemus Ward Ah well, they say its not as bad as they say it is. Black Light I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous. Left Handed Screwdrivers. Striped paint. Pigeon's milk. Straight hooks. Cooking glue. It was as bad as being up a creek in a barbed wire canoe. ...about as useful as a chocolate teapot. I want my bedroom painted sky-blue pink. compulsory volunteers college student jumbo shrimp That shoe fits him like a glove. I wouldn't be paranoid if everyone didn't pick on me. Plastic lemons, rubber bones, bricked-up windows, artificial grass, plastic flowers, invisible ink. People have one thing in common: they are all different. It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. Mark Twain The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be. Paul Valery When one has good health it is not serious to be ill. Francis Blanche Is there life before death ? Belfast Graffito Often it is fatal to live too long. Racine The first condition of immortality is death. Stanislaw Lec As famous as the unknown soldier. Anyone who isn't confused here doesn't really know what's going on. I must follow the people. Am I not their leader ? Benjamin Disraeli The saddest moment in a person's life comes but once. A commercial traveller was passing through a small town when he came upon a huge funeral procession. "Who died?" he asked a nearby local. "I'm not sure," replied the local, " but I think its the one in the coffin." The dumplings in a dream are not dumplings, only dreams. He lived his life to the end. You always find something in the last place you look. A woman met a man walking along the street wearing only one shoe. "Just lost a shoe ?" she asked. He answered, "Nope, just found one." Classified add: For Sale: Man's suit, perfect fit. It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others. John Andrew Holmes Some painters transform the sun into a yelow spot; others transform a yellow spot into the sun. Pablo Picasso Beyond each corner new directions lie in wait. Stanislaw Lec My play was a complete success. The audience was a failure. My life has a superb cast but I can't figure out the plot. Ashleigh Brilliant A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants. Arthur Schoperhauer Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think. Ambrose Bierce You can observe a lot just by watchin'. Yogi Berra In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain. Pliny the Elder The English certainly and fiercly pride themselves in never praising themselves. Wyndham Lewis I have made mistakes, but have never made the mistake of claiming I never made one. James G. Bennet Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history. George Bernard Shaw Trapped, like a trap in a trap. Dorothy Parker I am not sincere, even when I say I am not. Jules Renard You've no idea of what a poor opinion I have of myself, and how little I deserve it. W.S. Gilbert Great Rules for writing from William Safire in the New York Times. Do not put statements in the negative form. And don't start sentences with a conjunction. It is incumbent on one to avoid archaisms. If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do. Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all. De-accession euphemisms. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Never, ever use repetitive redundancies. Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration. Last, but not least, avoid cliche's like the plague. I used to be indecisive, now I'm not sure. Graffitti seen in Pompeii : Everyone writes on the walls but me. Hypochondria is the one disease I have not got. Procrastinate now! I've told you for the fifty-thousandth time, stop exagerating. Young Man: Why do philosophers ask so many questions? Old Philosopher: Why shouldn't philosophers ask so many questions? What is the world to a man who's wife is a widow. A stone was placed at a ford in a river with the inscription: "When this stone is covered it is dangerous to ford here." In the city today the temperature rose to 180 degrees. This sudden rise of temperature was responsible for the intolerable heat. "Have you lived in this village all your life?" "No, not yet." "Who is the oldest inhabitant of this village?" "We haven't got one; we had one, but he died three weeks ago." "Hey, somebody cut the end off this rope!" "Hey, Trixie, what's your earliest memory?" "Umm... I don't remember!" Overheard in hotel: "It's eight o'clock, sir!" "Why the devil didn't you tell me that before?" Inform all the troops that communications have completely broken down. Ashleigh Brilliant There is only one difference between a madman and me. I am not mad. Salvador Dali Nobody goes to that restaurant anymore. It's too crowded. Just the omission of Jane Austen's books alone would make a fairly good library out of a library that hadn't a book in it. Mark Twain I tripped over a hole that was sticking up out of the ground. Quotes from Samuel Goldwyn, immigrant turned famous movie producer: Quick as a flashlight. It rolled off my back like a duck. (When told his son was getting married) Thank heaven. A bachelor's life is no life for a single man. A hospital is no place to be sick. Our comedies are not to be laughed at. I can give you a definite perhaps. (when told a script was full of old cliches) Let's have some new cliches. ("You say you've never mad a picture before?") Yes, but that's our strongest weak point. Gentleman, include me out. A verbal contract is'nt worth the paper its printed on. I can tell you in two words: im possible. (on being told that a friend had named his son Sam, after him) Why did you do that ? Every Tom, Dick and Harry is named Sam! I paid too much for it, but its worth it. Gentlemen, for your information, I have a question to ask you. I read part of it all the way through. If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive. I never put on a pair of shoes until I've worn them at least five years. Let's bring it up to date with some snappy nineteenth century dialogue. Goldwyn: What kind of dancing does Martha Graham do? Associate: Modern dancing. Goldwyn: I don't want her then, modern dancing is so old fashioned. I don't think anyone should write their autobiography until after they're dead. Bookkeeper: Mr. Goldwyn, our files are bulging with paperwork we no longer need. May I have your permission to destroy all records before 1945? Goldwyn: Certainly. Just be sure to keep a copy of everything. Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined. (on a film set of a tenement) Goldwyn : Why is everything so dirty here? Director : Because it's supposed to be a slum area. Goldwyn : Well, this slum cost a lot of money. It should look better than an ordinary slum. Gentlemen, listen to me slowly. That's the trouble with directors - always biting the hand that lays the golden egg. Keep a stiff upper chin. We have all passed a lot of water since then. ... we have that Indian scene. We can get the Indians from the resevoir. (in discussing Lillian Helman's play, "The Children's Hour") Goldwyn : Maybe we ought to buy it? Associate : Forget it, Mr. Goldwyn, its about Lesbians. Goldwyn : That's okay, we'll make them Americans. Don't worry about the war. It's all over but the shooting. Associate : Its to caustic for film. Goldwyn : To hell with the cost, if it's a good story, I'll make it. More sample and analysis (including a collection of visuals) can be found in "More on Oxymoron" by Patrick Hughes, 1983, Penguin books. -- Brendan Kehoe -- ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 11:27:01 -0400 From: "Steven D. Conniff" Subject: Fletch Does anyone remember this from "Fletch" with Chevy Chase? Fletch: Aren't you going to read my rights? Crooked cop: Oh yeah, you have the right to have your balls stomped on by me...you have the right to have your face kicked in by him. Fletch: I'll wave my rights. ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 11:38:50 EST From: Sara Rummelhart Subject: Sexual yearnings There was a young lady so wild Who kept herself pure, undefiled, By thinking of Jesus, Venereal diseases, And the danger of having a child. ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 15:45:00 GMT From: "John R. Garrett" <0004716758@MCIMAIL.COM> Subject: IF IT'S... As the academic year winds down, I wonder whether any of you would like to contribute to this collaborative enterprise: IF IT'S... IF IT'S green and wiggles IT'S Biology IT stinks Chemistry YOU can't understand it Math IT doesn't work Physics IT doesn't make sense Economics IT doesn't work and blows up Computer Science YOU can't remember what it is History...History YOU have no idea what it is but are too embarrassed to ask Anthropology IT's intiutively obvious Psychology IT'S intuitively wrong Economics More, please! John Garrett ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 13:01:04 -0400 From: Richard Subject: Lawyers pg13 Q: How are sperm and lawyers alike? A: Only one in a million does the right thing. ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 11:07:02 -0600 From: "Computer Center Ext. 6839" Subject: May be offensive to dwarfs Q: What do you call a 60 lb midget with 30 lb balls? A: Half nuts!!! Q: What is yellow and smells like bananas? A: Monkey vomit!!! ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 13:28:30 EDT From: Wally Veale Subject: This Joke Rated PG13 Why are policemen's balls bigger than firemen's balls? Because they sell more tickets. ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 13:27:45 +0501 From: William Turner Subject: Re: IF IT'S... IF IT'S YOU fall asleep music theory Tu no comprendas Spanish you lose all track of time and don't know where you are A Faulkner class you feel your final was judged unfairly because you disagreed with your teacher on political issues. an art class u fale and your teacher ain't tellin you Y an English class ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 11:50:41 CDT From: Dan Hanson Subject: bit racist but can be applyed to any one... Two men were in a courtroom and the judge asks the first guy "Do you know this person?" The first guy responds with "Judge you ask me if I know this guy and I will answer you but first I need to tell a little story. One day while I was riding my camel across the desert this man stepped out from behind a sand dune and said "get off the camel." I got of the camel. He than said "Give me your water" I gave him my water, He said "undress" I said "undress?" he said "undress!!" I undressed, he said "shit" I said "shit?" he said "shit!!" I shat (?), next he said "eat it" I said "eat it?" he said EAT IT!!" I ate. I said "look behind you" he looked. I grabbed the guns and I said "get off the camel" he got off, I said "give me your water" he gave it to me. I said "undress" he said "undress?" I said "undress!!" he undressed. I said "shit" he said "shit?" I said "shit!!" he shat. I said "eat it" he said "eat it?" I said "EAT IT!!" he ate. Now Judge you ask me if I know this man and I must say yes I do, we did lunch." I know it is tasteless but I think it is funny... ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 13:00:08 -0600 From: Debby Romero Subject: GOLF JOKE JESUS IS OUT PLAYING GOLF AND IS AIMING FOR A HOLE IN ONE. HE SWINGS AND COMES WITHING SIX INCHES OF THE HOLE. THE NEXT GOLFER COMES UP AND SLICES THE BALL TO THE FAR RIGHT WHERE A RABBIT PICKS IT UP AND IS HOPPING ALONG WHEN AN EAGLE SWOOPES DOWN AND DEVOURS THE RABBIT--BALL AND ALL. ON HIS FLIGHT THE EAGLE IS STRUCK BY LIGHTING WHICH SHOOTS THE BALL DIRECTLY INTO THE HOLE FOR A HOLE-IN-ONE. JESUS REPLIES "GEE, DAD, YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO GET MAD!" ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 15:37:25 -0400 From: Richard Subject: The three great lies There are three great lies, I can remember only two. 1. The check is in the mail. 2. I will respect you in the morning. 3. (Can anyone help with the third???) ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 16:41:56 -0400 From: Napalm Death Fan Subject: Laws List of Laws Anthony's Law of Force: Don't force it; get a larger hammer. Anthony's Law of the Workshop: Any tool when dropped, will roll into the least accessible corner of the workshop. Arnold's Laws of Documentation: (1) If it should exist, it doesn't. (2) If it does exist, it's out of date. (3) Only documentation for useless programs transcends the first two laws. Arthur's Laws of Love: (1) People to whom you are attracted invariably think you remind them of someone else. (2) The love letter you finally got the courage to send will be delayed in the mail long enough for you to make a fool of yourself in person. Bagdikian's Observation: Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American newspaper is like trying to play Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" on a ukelele. Baker's First Law of Federal Geometry: A block grant is a solid mass of money surrounded on all sides by governors. Barach's Rule: An alcoholic is a person who drinks more than his own physician. Baruch's Observation: If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Beifeld's Principle: The probability of a young man meeting a desirable and receptive young female increases by pyramidal progression when he is already in the company of: (1) a date, (2) his wife, (3) a better looking and richer male friend. Boling's postulate: If you're feeling good, don't worry. You'll get over it. Bolub's Fourth Law of Computerdom: Project teams detest weekly progress reporting because it so vividly manifests their lack of progress. Bombeck's Rule of Medicine: Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died. Boob's Law: You always find something in the last place you look. Boren's Laws: (1) When in charge, ponder. (2) When in trouble, delegate. (3) When in doubt, mumble. Bradley's Bromide: If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into a committee -- that will do them in. Brady's First Law of Problem Solving: When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger have handled this?" Brewer's Observation: No good deed goes unpunished. Brook's Law: Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later. Brooke's Law: Whenever a system becomes completely defined, some damn fool discovers something which either abolishes the system or expands it beyond recognition. Bucy's Law: Nothing is ever accomplished by a reasonable man. Cahn's Axiom: When all else fails, read the instructions. Captain Penny's Law: You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you Can't Fool Mom. Chism's Law of Completion: The amount of time required to complete a government project is precisely equal to the length of time already spent on it. Chisolm's First Corollary to Murphy's Second Law: When things just can't possibly get any worse, they will. Churchill's Commentary on Man: Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on. Colvard's Logical Premises: All probabilities are 50%. Either a thing will happen or it won't. Colvard's Unconscionable Commentary: This is especially true when dealing with someone you're attracted to. Conway's Law: In any organization, there will always be one person who knows what's going on; This person must be fired. Corollaries: 1. Nobody whom you ask for help will see it. 2. The first person who stops by, whose advice you really don't want to hear, will see it immediately. Denniston's Law: Virtue is its own punishment. DeVries's Dilemma: If you hit two keys on the typewriter, the one you don't want hits the paper. Drew's Law of Highway Biology: The first bug to hit a clean windshield lands directly in front of your eyes. Ducharm's Axiom: If you view your problem closely enough you will recognize yourself as part of the problem. Ducharme's Precept: Opportunity always knocks at the least opportune moment. Emersons' Law of Contrariness: Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can. Having found them, we shall then hate them for it. Fifth Law of Applied Terror: If you are given an open-book exam, you will forget your book. Corollary: If you are given a take-home exam, you will forget where you live. Fifth Law of Procrastination: Procrastination avoids boredom; one never has the feeling that there is nothing important to do. Finagle's Creed: Science is true. Don't be misled by facts. Finagle's First Law: If an experiment works, something has gone wrong. Finagle's Second Law: No matter what the anticipated result, there will always be someone eager to (a) misinterpret it, (b) fake it, or (c) believe it happened according to his own pet theory. Finagle's Third Law: In any collection of data, the figure most obviously correct, beyond all need of checking, is the mistake Finagle's Fourth Law: Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it only makes it worse. Finster's Law: A closed mouth gathers no feet. First Law of Bicycling: No matter which way you ride, it's uphill and against the wind. First Law of Procrastination: Procrastination shortens the job and places the responsibility for its termination on someone else (i.e., the authority who imposed the deadline). First Law of Socio-Genetics: Celibacy is not hereditary. First Rule of History: History doesn't repeat itself -- historians merely repeat each other. Flon's Law: There is not now, and never will be, a language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad programs. Flugg's Law: When you need to knock on wood is when you realize that the world is composed of vinyl, naugahyde and aluminum. Fourth Law of Applied Terror: The night before the English History mid-term, your Biology instructor will assign 200 pages on planaria. Corollary: Every instructor assumes that you have nothing else to do except study for that instructor's course. Fourth Law of Revision: It is usually impractical to worry beforehand about interferences -- if you have none, someone will make one for you. Freeman's Commentary on Ginsberg's theorem: Every major philosophy that attempts to make life seem meaningful is based on the negation of one part of Ginsberg's Theorem. To wit: 1. Capitalism is based on the assumption that you can win. 2. Socialism is based on the assumption that you can break even. 3. Mysticism is based on the assumption that you can quit the game. Fresco's Discovery: If you knew what you were doing you'd probably be bored. Fudd's First Law of Opposition: Push something hard enough and it will fall over. Gerrold's Laws of Infernal Dynamics: 1. An object in motion will always be headed in the wrong direction. 2. An object at rest will always be in the wrong place. 3. The energy required to change either one of these states will always be more than you wish to expend, but never so much as to make the task totally impossible. Ginsberg's Theorem: 1. You can't win. 2. You can't break even. 3. You can't even quit the game. Glib's Fourth Law of Unreliability: Investment in reliability will increase until it exceeds the probable cost of errors, or until someone insists on getting some useful work done. Glyme's Formula for Success: The secret to success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made. Gold's Law: If the shoe fits, it's ugly Goldenstern's Rules: 1. Always hire a rich attorney 2. Never buy from a rich salesman. Gordian Maxim: If a string has one end, it has another. Grabel's Law: 2 is not equal to 3 -- not even for large values of 2. Grandpa Charnock's Law: You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive. Gray's Law of Programming: `n+1' trivial tasks are expected to be accomplished in the same time as `n' tasks. Green's Law of Debate: Anything is possible if you don't know what you're talking about. Greener's Law: Never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel. Grelb's Reminder: Eighty percent of all people consider themselves to be above average drivers. H. L. Mencken's Law: Those who can -- do. Those who can't -- teach. Martin's Extension: Those who cannot teach -- administrate. Hacker's Law: The belief that enhanced understanding will necessarily stir a nation to action is one of mankind's oldest illusions. Hall's Laws of Politics: (1) The voters want fewer taxes and more spending. (2) Citizens want honest politicians until they want something fixed. (3) Constituency drives out consistency (i.e., liberals defend military spending, and conservatives social spending in their own districts). Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. Hanson's Treatment of Time: There are never enough hours in a day, but always too many days before Saturday. Harrisberger's Fourth Law of the Lab: Experience is directly proportional to the amount of equipment ruined. Harrison's Postulate: For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism. Hartley's First Law: You can lead a horse to water, but if you can get him to float on his back, you've got something. Hartley's Second Law: Never sleep with anyone crazier than yourself. Harvard Law: Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables, the organism will do as it damn well pleases. Heller's Law: The first myth of management is that it exists. Hlade's Law: If you have a difficult task, give it to a lazy person -- they will find an easier way to do it. Hoare's Law of Large Problems: Inside every large problem is a small problem struggling to get out. Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take Hofstadter's Law into account. Horngren's Observation: Among economists, the real world is often a special case. Howe's Law: Everyone has a scheme that will not work. Hurewitz's Memory Principle: The chance of forgetting something is directly proportional to ..... to ........ uh .............. Jacquin's Postulate: No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session. Johnson's Corollary: Nobody really knows what is going on anywhere within the organization. Kramer's Law: You can never tell which way the train went by looking at the track. Lieberman's Law: Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter, cuz nobody listens. Logg's Rebuttal to Gray's Law: `n+1' trivial tasks take twice as long as `n' trivial tasks. Lynch's Law: When the going gets tough, everyone leaves. Mason's First Law of Synergism: The one day you'd sell your soul for something, souls are a glut. Meade's Maxim: Always remember that you are absolutely unique, just like everyone else. Muir's Law: When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. Naeser's Law: You can make it foolproof, but you can't make it damnfoolproof. O'Reilly's Law of the Kitchen: Cleanliness is next to impossible Oliver's Law of Location: No matter where you go, there you are. Putt's Law: Technology is dominated by two types of people: Those who understand what they do not manage. Those who manage what they do not understand. Ralph's Observation: It is a mistake to let any mechanical object realise that you are in a hurry. Corollary: On the way to the corner, any dropped tool will first strike your toes. Sausage Principle: People who love sausage and respect the law should never watch either one being made. Stewart's law of Retroaction: It's easier to get forgiveness than it is to get permission. FIRST LAW OF ADVICE: The correct advice to give is the advice that is desired. FIRST LAW OF COMMUNICATION: The purpose of the communication is to advance the communicator. SECOND LAW OF COMMUNICATION: The information conveyed is less important than the impression. FIRST LAW OF INNOVATION MANAGEMENT: Change is the status quo. SECOND LAW OF INNOVATION MANAGEMENT: Management by objectives is no better than the objectives. THIRD LAW OF INNOVATION MANAGEMENT: A manager cannot tell if he is leading an innovative mob or being chased by it. SECOND LAW OF DECISION MAKING: Any decision is better than no decision. THIRD LAW OF DECISION MAKING: A decision is judged by the conviction with which it is uttered. THIRD LAW OF SURVIVAL: To protect your position, fire the fastest rising employees first. FIFTH LAW OF DECISION MAKING: Decisions are justified by the benefits to the organization, but they are MADE by considering the benefits to the decision-makers. PARALLELS TO MURPHY'S LAW: Anyone else who can be blamed should be blamed. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong faster with computers. Whenever a computer can be blamed, it should be blamed. PUTTS-BROOKS LAW: Adding manpower to a late technology project only makes it later. Paul Dickson's THE OFFICIAL RULES, with its sequel THE OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONS. I quote from "Gilb's Laws of Reliability": (1) Computers are unreliable, but humans are even more unreliable. (2) Any system which depends on human reliability is unreliable. (3) The only difference between a fool and a criminal is that the fool will attack a system unpredictably and on a broader front. (4) A system tends to grow in complexity instead of simplicity, until the resulting unreliability becomes intolerable. (5) Self-checking systems tend to have a complexity in proportion to their inherent unreliability. (6) The error-detection and -correction capabilities of any system serve as a key to understanding the types of errors it cannot handle. (7) Undetectable errors are infinite in variety, in contrast to detectable errors, which by definition are finite. (8) All real programs contain errors until proved otherwise which is impossible. (9) Investment in reliability will increase until it exceeds the probable cost of errors, or until somebody insists on getting some useful work done. Augustine's Laws Norman R. Augustine, president and chief operating officer of Martin Marietta has written a book (available in paperback) called "Augustine's Laws"in which he succinctly sums up the pitfalls that confront business managers today. LAW NUMBER I: The best way to make a silk purse from a sow's ear is to begin with a silk sow. The same is true of money. LAW NUMBER II: If today were half as good as tomorrow is supposed to be, it would probably be twice as good as yesterday was. LAW NUMBER III: There are no lazy veteran lion hunters. LAW NUMBER IV: If you can afford to advertise, you don't need to. LAW NUMBER V: One-tenth of the participants produce over one-third of the output. Increasing the number of participants merely reduces the average output. LAW NUMBER VI: A hungry dog hunts best. A hungrier dog hunts even better. LAW NUMBER VII: Decreased business base increases overhead. So does increased business base. LAW NUMBER VIII: The most unsuccessful four years in the education of a cost-estimator is fifth grade arithmetic. LAW NUMBER IX: Acronyms and abbreviations should be used to the maximum extent possible to make trivial ideas profound...........Q.E.D. LAW NUMBER X: Bulls do not win bull fights; people do. People do not win people fights; lawyers do. LAW NUMBER XI: If the Earth could be made to rotate twice as fast, managers would get twice as much done. If the Earth could be made to rotate twenty times as fast, everyone else would get twice as much done since all the managers would fly off. LAW NUMBER XII: It costs a lot to build bad products. LAW NUMBER XIII: There are many highly successful businesses in the United States. There are also many highly paid executives. The policy is not to intermingle the two. LAW NUMBER XIV: After the year 2015, there will be no airplane crashes. There will be no takeoffs either, because electronics will occupy 100 percent of every airplane's weight. LAW NUMBER XV: The last 10 percent of performance generates one-third of the cost and two-thirds of the problems. LAW NUMBER XVI: In the year 2054, the entire defense budget will purchase just one aircraft. This aircraft will have to be shared by the Air Force and Navy 3-1/2 days each per week except for leap year, when it will be made available to the Marines for the extra day. LAW NUMBER XVII: Software is like entropy. It is difficult to grasp, weighs nothing, and obeys the Second Law of Thermodynamics;i.e., it always increases. LAW NUMBER XVIII: It is very expensive to achieve high unreliability. It is not uncommon to increase the cost of an item by a factor of ten for each factor of ten degradation accomplished. LAW NUMBER XIX: Although most products will soon be too costly to purchase, there will be a thriving market in the sale of books on how to fix them. LAW NUMBER XX: In any given year, Congress will appropriate the amount of funding approved the prior yearplus three-fourths of whatever change the administration requests -- minus 4-percent tax. LAW NUMBER XXI: It's easy to get a loan unless you need it. LAW NUMBER XXII: If stock market experts were so expert, they would be buying stock, not selling advice. LAW NUMBER XXIII: Any task can be completed in only one-third more time than is currently estimated. LAW NUMBER XXIV: The only thing more costly than stretching the schedule of an established project is accelerating it, which is itself the most costly action known to man. LAW NUMBER XXV: A revised schedule is to business what a new season is to an athlete or a new canvas to an artist. LAW NUMBER XXVI: If a sufficient number of management layers are superimposed on each other, it can be assured that disaster is not left to chance. LAW NUMBER XXVII: Rank does not intimidate hardware. Neither does the lack of rank. LAW NUMBER XXVIII: It is better to be the reorganizer than the reorganizee. LAW NUMBER XXIX: Executives who do not produce successful results hold on to their jobs only about five years. Those who produce effective results hang on about half a decade. LAW NUMBER XXX: By the time the people asking the questions are ready for the answers, the people doing the work have lost track of the questions. LAW NUMBER XXXI: The optimum committee has no members. LAW NUMBER XXXII: Hiring consultants to conduct studies can be an excellent means of turning problems into gold -- your problems into their gold. LAW NUMBER XXXIII: Fools rush in where incumbents fear to tread. LAW NUMBER XXXIV: The process of competitively selecting contractors to perform work is based on a system of rewards and penalties, all distributed randomly. LAW NUMBER XXXV: The weaker the data available upon which to base one's conclusion, the greater the precision which should be quoted in order to give the data authenticity. LAW NUMBER XXXVI: The thickness of the proposal required to win a multimillion dollar contract is about one millimeter per million dollars. If all the proposals conforming to this standard were piled on top of each other at the bottom of the Grand Canyon it would probably be a good idea. LAW NUMBER XXXVII: Ninety percent of the time things will turn out worse than you expect. The other 10 percent of the time you had no right to expect so much. LAW NUMBER XXXVIII: The early bird gets the worm. The early worm....gets eaten. LAW NUMBER XXXIX: Never promise to complete any project within six months of the end of the year -- in either direction. LAW NUMBER XL: Most projects start out slowly -- and then sort of taper off. LAW NUMBER XLI: The more one produces, the less one gets. LAW NUMBER XLII: Simple systems are not feasible because they require infinite testing. LAW NUMBER XLIII: Hardware works best when it matters the least. LAW NUMBER XLIV: Aircraft flight in the 21st century will always be in a westerly direction, preferably supersonic, crossing time zones to provide the additional hours needed to fix the broken electronics. LAW NUMBER XLV: One should expect that the expected can be prevented, but the unexpected should have been expected. LAW NUMBER XLVI: A billion saved is a billion earned. LAW NUMBER XLVII: Two-thirds of the Earth's surface is covered with water. The other third is covered with auditors from headquarters. LAW NUMBER XLVIII: The more time you spend talking about what you have been doing, the less time you have to spend doing what you have been talking about. Eventually, you spend more and more time talking about less and less until finally you spend all your time talking about nothing. LAW NUMBER XLIX: Regulations grow at the same rate as weeds. LAW NUMBER L: The average regulation has a life span one-fifth as long as a chimpanzee's and one-tenth as long as a human's -- but four times as long as the official's who created it. LAW NUMBER LI: By the time of the United States Tricentennial, there will be more government workers than there are workers. LAW NUMBER LII: People working in the private sector should try to save money. There remains the possibility that it may someday be valuable again. More of Murphy's Laws * A clean tie attracts the soup of the day. * A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking. * A free agent is anything but. * As soon as the stewardess serves the coffee, the airline rencounters turbulence. * Exceptions always outnumber rules. * Exceptions prove the rule ... and wreck the budget. * Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it. * For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism. * He who hesitates is probably right. * If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried. * If enough data is collected, anyghing may be proven by statistical methods. * If it says "one size fits all," it dosen't fit anyone. * If only one price can be obtained for a quotation, the price will be unreasonable. * If somthing is confidential, it will be left in the copier machine. * Interchangable parts won't. * Life can be only understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards. * Love letters, business contracts and money due you always arrive three weeks late, whereas junk mail arrives the day it was sent. * Never ask the barber if you need a haircut or a salesman if his is a good price. * Never do card tricks for the group you play poker with. * No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. * No matter which way you go, it's uphill and against the wind. * No one is listening until you make a mistake. * One child is not enough, but two children are far too many. * People who love sausage and respect the law should never watch either of them being made. * Progress is made on alternative Fridays. * Quality assurance dosen't. * Success always occurs in private, and failure in full view. * The bag that breaks is the one with the eggs. * The book you spent $20.95 for today will come out in paperback tomorrow. * The colder the X-ray table, the more of your body is required on it. * The hardness of the butter is in direct proportion to the softness of the butter. * The hidden flaw never remains hidden. * The ideal resume will turn up one day after the position is filled. * The least experienced fisherman always catches the biggest fish. * The more an item costs, the farther you have to send it for repairs. * The one item you want is never the one on sale. * The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach. * The telephone will ring when you are outside the door, fumbling for your keys. * The tough part of a Data Processing Manager's job is that users don't really know what they want, but they know for certain what they don't want. * To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research * To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles. * Trust everybody ... then cut the cards. * Two wrongs are only the beginning. * When reviewing your notes for a test, the most important ones will be illegible. * When there are sufficient funds in the checking account, checks take two weeks to clear. When there are insufficient funds, checks clear overnight. * When you drop change at a vending machine, the pennies will fall nearby, while all other coins will roll out of sight. * Work is accomplished by those employees who have not reached their level of incompetence. * You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive. * You never want the one you can afford. ======== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 16:43:37 -0400 From: Napalm Death Fan Subject: ANSWERING MACHINE MESSAGES 1 "We are unable to come to the phone right now. At the tone, please leave your name, number, and Master Card, Visa, or American Express account number and we'll get back to, pending credit approval." 2 "You have reached the , Strategic Air Command Nuclear Missle Storage Facility. We are unable to come to the phone right now. At the tone, please leave you name, number and target or list of targets and we'll launch as soon as we can. And have a nice day." 3 "Hello. This is Chris. John and Mike aren't here right now, but if you leave a message, they'll get back to you as soon as they can." 4 [imitating Ensign Chekov] "Oh, sair...it was *Khan*! He made us say things...do things...he kept us from answering the phone! But Keptin was strong, and if you leave your name and number, Keptin will get back to you as soon as he can!" 5 [imitating Mr. Rogers] "Hello. I'm in the Magic Kingdom right now, so I can't come to the phone. Can you leave your name and number when you hear the sound of the tone? Sure...I knew you could." 6 Steve: Hello. Steve and Matt aren't here right now but if... Matt: Steve, what are you doing? Steve: I'm leaving a phone message since we aren't here. Matt: But you left the last one -- it's my turn. Steve: No, I'm sure it's my turn. Matt: No, you're incorrect. It's definitely my turn. Steve: You fool. I know it's ... wait ... Matt ... what are you doing with that frying pan?!? BONK [really loud thud] Matt: Steve is out right now, so please leave your name and number. 7 "Hello. I'm David's answering machine. What are you?" 8 "This is (#include phone.addr). We are not ... excuse me a moment, please. Put your sister down. PUT YOUR SISTER DOWN! (sound of window breaking) Great! What a mess. I'll have to get back to you later." 9 "Finally got an answering machine. Now how does this thing work? Hmmm. Press record button, I did that, and the light should be on. I wonder why it's not working right. Hmmmm, I wonder what this button does......" 10 A friend of mine at school has this message, read by three people while the STAR TREK theme plays in the background. 1: Room 17, the final frontier. 2: These are the messages of Chad's answering machine. Its 2 semester mission: to seek out your name and your telepohne number. 3: To boldly inform you to wait for the tone. 11 (Annoying flute music in background) Good day, Jim. Your contact, [insert name], is not available right now. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to leave your name, number, and a brief message at the tone. This tape will self-destruct in thirty seconds. Good Luck, Jim. 12 "Steve is reassembling Elvis' brain and can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave your name ...", etc. 13 "Steve has been captured by a flying saucer and can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave your name, phone number, and a message I'll have him call you back as soon as he gets away. Read all about it in next week's National Enquirer." 14 In the background can be heard Gregorian Chant or some other church music Good Day My child, you have reached {name} dial a confession. At the tone if you will leave your name, number and short confession I will get back to you with your pennance. Thank you and may God go with you. 15 Hi this is . I'm sorry I can't answer the phone right now. Leave a message and then wait by the phone until I call you back. 16 A friend was at a mutal friend's sister's house, and when she went out for beer, he changed her answering machine message. In a loud, deep, gravely, horror-film voice he recorded, "HI, THIS IS KATHY, I'M NOT MYSELF RIGHT NOW. IF YOU LEAVE YOUR NAME AND NUMBER, I'LL GET BACK TO YOU WHEN I'M FEELING BETTER." 17 I worked for a bit in the coastguard in Wales and I used to send weather reports to other bases, using a sort of antique FAX machine. I would call first on a special telephone and then send the data. They used to answer the phone with: " Epicentre of the Universe, God speaking." " Hartland home for lost whores." (that was Hartland CG) " Da, zis iz Ivan: do you have zee secret information, Boris?" " Pentagon command: transmit destruct sequence (pause) sequence correct: T minus one minute and counting" And then there was one phone we didn't use, with a number one off that of the local take-out. With my, non-British, accent I had some great fun with that phone. - "Starship Enterprise, Uhura here, can you hold please? -- Captain, there is a transmission coming in on hailing frequency seven, do you want it on screen?" (silence...click) "Vancouver coastguard, may I help you." British long distance rates are phenomenonal and I had this poor dude sputtering with horror that he had managed to make a long distance call by dialing five digits. 18 ---------------------------------------------------- This is one of my old ones that got a lot of laughs: Noisy pick-up of phone Uh... Hello? Hi, I 'm a burgular and I was just about to steal Troy's answering machine. If you give me your name and number I'll..uh, I'll post it on the 'frige where he'll see it. Uh.. by the way, where did you say you live? 19---------------------------------------------------- But right now I'm using "This is a boring answering machine message. Leave a message anyway." because I'm sick of people ringing the phone at 10am just so they can hear the clever messages I usually have, and then hanging up without even leaving a "like your message" message. Feh! 20---------------------------------------------------- [Must have good Australian accent] G'day mate. Can't come to the phone now because I'm a bit tied up with this crocodile. Just leave a message, and I'll get back to you. 21---------------------------------------------------- This is the Literacy Self Test Hotline. After the tone, leave your name and number and recite a sentence using today's vocabulary word. Today's word is supercilious ...} 22---------------------------------------------------- Kemosabe no in tipi now. You leave'um message after little smoke signal, and Kemosabe get back for pow-wow real fast. 23---------------------------------------------------- Also, on the subject of answering machins, my favorite tape was: "This is Jeff, you're not in now so I'll leave a message." Really confused people. 24---------------------------------------------------- A bubble in the space-time continuum has connected your line to a channeler in the 23rd Century. Any message you leave will be broadcast into the future.. 25------------------------------------------------ -Hello. I can't come to the phone now because--HEY, GEORGE! DON'T STAND ON THAT--goddam. ...because I've invited George and Barbara Bush over...BARBARA! HEY! DON'T FUCK WITH THAT!...over for dinner. After the tone...BARBARA, CALL YOUR DOG...MILLIE! DOWN GIRL! ...shit...Leave a message after the tone...HEY, FUCKHEAD... 26------------------------------------------------ Hello. Lindsey's not home now--this is his domestic droid speaking. I'm not programmed to answer the phone, so just leave a message, and Lindsey will get back to you as soon as possible. 27_________________________________________________ My wife and I can't come to the phone right now, but if you'll leave your name and number we'll get back to you as soon as we're finished. 28------------------------------------------------ Ring, Ring: The number you have xxx-xxxx (your number) has been changed, the new number is xxx-xxxx (again, your number). CULATA! 29------------------------------------------------ "Hello, and welcome to Answering Machines of the Rich and Famous! (your name here) can't come to the phone right now, because he's spending the week in his beautiful summer home on the French Riviera..." 30------------------------------------------------ One day I had a borrowed Casio sampler toy and used it to create a rather interesting one: Hello. You have reached Tooooommmmmm Tom Tm! Tom and MaMaMaMarMMMMaark's room. Tom is studying ssttuuddyyiinngg sssssssssssss and MaMark isn'isn'isn'isn't here. isn't here. P-P-Pleas! leave a messssssssage. Goodbye. 'bye! bye!bbyebybyyeyeyebbye {byes repeating at all different pitches} 31------------------------------------------------ Last year my roommate had a machine but he hated to make the outgoing message. Stage fright, I guess. So I usually made them. One that we usually used during exam time was: {background music: Billy Joel's _Pressure_ very loud} Hello. You have reached Tom and Mark's room. We're a little busy now... { BJ screams PRESSURE!!! } So, leave a message and we'll get back to you someday after (exam end date) { BJ: ONE TWO THREE FOUR PRESSURE!!! followed by a very out-of-tune BEEP! } 32------------------------------------------------ My favorite message that I ever had was the *real* message I recorded off 1-800-CALL-SPY, the U.S. army snitching network. Try it, its a great recording (call after 5 pm for the message). [Give it try! -pZ] 33------------------------------------------------ - In the background can be heard springs creaking and various moans. Hi,... You've just reached {name} pleasure palace. We're all busy as I'm sure you can tell but when we're done... we'll get back to you in whatever way we can. You wouldn't believe how much explaining my mother wanted on that one... 34------------------------------------------------ [b.g. music is frantic, violin oriented] "hello. you have reached xxx-xxxx. we are currently unable to answer because we are either chasing, or being chased by, bats. please leave a message..." etc. 35------------------------------------------------ [the quiet, eerie vocal part of 'hello, earth' by kate bush] (after about 30 seconds): "hello. you have reached xxx-xxxx. We can't come to the phone right now because we're at vespers. Please leave a message..." etc. (30 more seconds of music before the beep.) 36------------------------------------------------ (Spoken in a granny voice) "Way back inna winner of fifty-two, we didn' have fanshy gadjets like no ansherin' machine. You jusht had to call and call until shummbody got home. Now, shum people, dey shay dey don' like 'em, but I shay it'll shave you a lotta trouble if you jusht leave a meshage. Thanksh a lot." Must be spoken in a drawl. 37------------------------------------------------ Well, this isn't strictly from an answering machine, but... >From Calvin and Hobbes: (phone rings) (you answer) Hello, this is <...> speaking. I'd like a large pizza with extra anchovies. (other person) What? (you reply) Oh, sorry, I must have a wrong number. (hang up) Make everyone's day a little more surreal. 39------------------------------------------------ "I'm home right now . . . I'm just screening my calls. So just start talking and if you're someone I want to speak to I'll pick up the phone. Otherwise, well, what can I say? 40------------------------------------------------ In Japan, the hand can be used like a knife. [sound effect: Heeeeee-YAH!, smashing box of kleenex] But this method doesn't work with a telephone call...-[sound effect: dial tone] Introducing the all-new GINSU answering machine! It cuts, it chops, it slices, it dices your incoming calls! How much would you pay? Don't answer, because if you leave your name and number when you hear the tone, we'll throw in a return phone call ABSOLUTELY FREE! 41------------------------------------------------ "Hi, you have reached .... Please leave your name, phone number and a message and if we like it we will return your call". 42------------------------------------------------ However, the most effective one I have had so far can be used only one day per year: "This is David. I'm not using the phone over Yom Kippur, so please leave a message or call back after the holiday." No one wants to admit not having realized it was Yom Kippur or not knowing I would pick one holiday from the whole calendar on which to get observant, so everyone hangs up and leaves me no bad news or requests for favors. 43------------------------------------------------ "This is David. Talk." 44------------------------------------------------ "Hi. This is David. I've shut the ringers off on my phones and taken a sedative. As soon as I finish this recording I'm going to bed indefinitely. When I wake up I'll play my messages. Please leave one." 45------------------------------------------------ [with a kazoo band playing "Thus Spake Zarathustra" in the background...] "Thinking you were making an ordinary phone call, you have instead reached..." [YA-DAAAAAAAAA!] "...the ANSWERING MACHINE! Leave your name and number, and we will get back to you as soon as we can." 46------------------------------------------------ "Hello, this is Dr. Pangloss. If this were the best of all possible worlds, I could come to the phone right now, but I can't, so if you could leave your name and number..." 47------------------------------------------------ "Hello?" "Sorry, he's not here right now, but if you leave a message, he'll get back to you." 48------------------------------------------------ (woman taped off a "phone sex" service) WOMAN : (seductively) Hi. I'm Linda. You know, it can be really lonely when you're a fashion model. Sometimes I just have to ... YOU : (interupting) Oh cmon, Linda, give me the damn phone..(then ask for a message) 49------------------------------------------------ Just after the earthquake a friend of mine put on his answering machine: "Hi, this is Jeff. We can't get to the phone right now because we were killed in the Earthquake. Tragic, isn't it? But, leave a message anyway, someone is sure to get it eventually." BEEP My favorite post quake message: "Hi, we're not in cause we're out LOOTING! Leave a message and we'll call you back and tell you what we got." 50------------------------------------------------ "Hello, I'm not here right now. In fact, I'm out getting a new parakeet. If you leave a message after the beep, I'll be sure to get back to you. Oh, and by the way, a word of advice; never try to clean a parakeet cage with a vacuum cleaner." 51------------------------------------------------ Ring...click....(sound of loud music in background)...Hello? - just a second while I turn the stereo off (sound of person running to click off music, which gets quiet. sound of person running back to phone) OK, sorry about that, hi there, who's this...well hi!... uh huh...yeah...well listen you're talking to a machine, so please leave a message and I'll call you back. (this ran for a while until a friend threatened to kill us after she said she had a 2 minute conversation with the machine.) 52------------------------------------------------ "Hello, this is Jim. Unfortunately I can't answer the phone right now because I've just come back from the Mirror Worlds and I'm still made up of antimatter, so if I were to pick up the phone right now, the resulting energy release would make Hiroshima look like a wet firecracker. So leave a message at the tone and I'll get back to you as soon as my component particles have been restored to their normal charges." 53------------------------------------------------ "Speak, worm!" Works best if done in a Darth Vader voice. 54------------------------------------------------ "You know what to do at the tone." 55------------------------------------------------ "Hello?" This confuses anyone who doesn't know you. 56------------------------------------------------ "Hello, I'm not here." A friend of mine used this one last summer. I always answered it with "Okay, that's all I wanted to know." 57------------------------------------------------ Hi!! You've reached Janet and Chris's room. We're not in right now. If this is our parents, we're at the library studying. Yeah, yeah, that's it, that's the ticket. If this is John (Chris's boyfriend), Chris is out with the girls at the party. Yeah, that's it. If this is any one else, we're at a party and you're not. Yeah, a party with the president. Yeah and the .... pope. Yeah that's it. 58------------------------------------------------ (in an Italian mafia-style tone:) "Hello. I can't come to the phone right now. Me and Guido are trying to stuff a body in the trunk. I think we're going to have to size it a little...