[lit-ideas] Is it a boy or a girl? -- Yes.
- From: jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2013 00:09:43 -0400 (EDT)
Geary writes:
"A logician's wife is having a baby. The doctor immediately hands the
newborn to the dad. His wife asks impatiently: "So, is it a boy or a
girl"? The logician replies: "yes"".
I suppose that as Lord Byron used to say, 'to explain a joke is to ruin
it', and as McCreery may (but then may not agree) there is more
philosophy to be found here than in the usual martini.
Again, McEvoy may disagree. I suppose that
MOTHER: So, is it a boy or a girl?
FATHER: Yes.
The appropriateness of a 'yes' answer (or a 'no' answer for that
matter) to what Grice calls a x-question may depend on the TONE (or
intonation).
MOTHER: Is it true that it is a boy or a girl.
FATHER: Yes, it is true that it is either a boy or a girl.
However, this is not necessary a priori -- or a posteriori, for that
matter. Or not.
I should examine the other 'jokes' -- or not.
Cheers,
Speranza
From: Mike Geary <gearyservice@xxxxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2013 18:33:12 -0500
1. Jean-Paul Sartre is sitting at a French cafe revising his draft of
Being
and Nothingness. He says to the waitress, "I'd like a cup of coffee,
please, with no cream." The waitress replies, "I'm sorry, Monsieur, but
we're out of cream. How about with no milk?"
{phattmatt}
2. "Is it solipsistic in here, or is it just me?" {guitartard}
3. Entropy isn't what it used to be. {inwalshe89}
4. A biologist, a chemist, and a statistician are out hunting. The
biologist shoots at a deer and misses 5 ft. to the left, the chemist
takes
a shot and misses 5 ft. to the right, the statistician yells "We got
'em!"
{Arcadian5656}
5. There are two types of people in the world: Those who can
extrapolate
from incomplete data sets {cynognathus:}
6. There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
{skullturf}
7. Did you hear about the man who got cooled to absolute zero? He's 0K
now. {the breadlord}
8. The programmer's wife tells him: "Run to the store and pick up a
loaf of
bread. If they have eggs, get a dozen." The programmer comes home
with 12
loaves of bread. {android47}
9. A logician's wife is having a baby. The doctor immediately hands the
newborn to the dad. His wife asks impatiently: "So, is it a boy or a
girl"? The logician replies: "yes". {jdefaver}
10. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
(LaChupacabras}
11. A Buddhist monk approaches a hotdog stand and says "Make me one with
everything." {SpookyStairs}
12. What do you call two crows on a branch? Attempted murder.
{flamebrockade}
13. C, E flat, and G walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry, no
minors." {Mkewl}
14. The bartender says,"We don't serve time travellers in here."
A time traveller walks into a bar.
{Erroneous Rex}
15. Wife walks in on husband, a string theorist, in bed with another
woman. He shouts, "I can explain everything!" {newloaf}
16. How many surrealists does it take to screw in a light bulb? A
fish
{StickleyMan}
.
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