A horse walks into a bar and orders a pint. The barkeep says ?you?re in here pretty often. Think you might be an alcoholic??, to which the horse says ?I don?t think I am.?, and vanishes from existence.
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See, the joke is about Descartes? famous philosophy of ?I think therefore, I am?, but to explain that part before the rest of the joke would be to put Descartes before the horse.
Very nice...a little deeper than the normal A horse walks into a bar. The bar keeper asks "Why the long face?"
On the subject of "deep jokes", I heard a joke many years ago that I still think about to this day. I really want to ask the comedian if the joke was as simple as it sounds or was there something deeper buried in there. He was the type of comedian that could go deep when he wanted to. Unfortunately, it was a long time ago and I don't even remember who the comedian was.
He was doing a set on driving and directions and GPS's, etc. He said "You know how they show the arrival time on the GPS screen? That's not the "time to arrive", that's the "time to beat". (audience laughs)
OK, so instead of laughing, I start thinking about it this way:
Was that joke as simple as it sounds? e.g. If the ETA says 11:35, he wants to get there before 11:35. He has therefore beaten the original time on the display. Ha ha, simple joke.
But wait. That time keeps updating as conditions change. It may have been 11:35 an hour ago, but now it's 11:34, then 11:33, etc. In other words, it's *impossible* to beat the time on the display because the arrival time shown, at arrival, will be the actual time of day. You *can't* beat it.
Was the comedian being that deep or was it as simple as trying to beat the original time? I'm hoping that he was being deep, but I'll probably never really know.
Explaining a joke kinda kills it.
"mistress" definition:
Half way between a mister and a mattress.
Whooosh! You totally missed the point. The so called "explanation" is part of the joke. It's actually the punchline.
Did "put Descartes before the horse" (put the cart before the horse) even enter your mind before the "explanation"?
Tell me how the first part of the joke is even a joke without the "explanation".
Indeed, I didn't sound out the words.
?I don?t think I am.?, and vanishes from existence.
The mirror of "I think, therefore I am" He doesn't think, therefore he isn't. Few would even get Descartes to begin with.
Its weird. I read the first part, and then read it again before getting it was a jab at Descartes philosophy (I didn't remember it was Descartes.) It was a small smile joke on its own. Then I realize there was more and scrolled down. It was like a bonus second joke... that actually made me laugh.
A bit of a shaggy dog... er shaggy horse story.
I consider both parts of the joke to be a single joke. Notice which part actually made you laugh. The scroll down is the "pause" for effect as if the joke was told out loud.
I would not expect anyone to come up with the pun "putting Descartes before the horse" on their own.
Imagine the confused look on the listener's face after the first part is spoken. Maybe they might end up where you did - remembering the concept of "I think therefore, I am". Maybe they might even remember that Descartes came up with the concept. OK, slightly humorous.
However, I don't think that anyone would put it all together and come up with "putting Descartes before the horse". That's what, to me, makes the joke so good. You can't really get to that without the "explanation" because the "explanation" contains the punchline.
IOW...getting to the pun is the entire point of the joke. The pun is the punchline.
Woop! woop! woop! Woop! NERD ALLERT!
Yeah, he really nerdsplained it didn't he.
The first part is an egghead joke all on its very own. My wife (super smart and well educated) got the first part instantly and gave me a small smile and groan. Admittedly I didn't get much better reaction after finishing this shaggy horse story.
In punance for this terrible word play I waited for a moment before I said, "37," and she just busted out laughing which goes to show some jokes are funnier than others.
Here's a shaggy moth story from the late Norm Macdonald.
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