Q: What’s the difference between ontology and taxonomy
A: Ontology is the study of how to kill jokes about taxonomy
Conversation
All my favorite jokes are ontological jokes. Let me list a few of my favorites. See if you can kill them all by explaining why they work.
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A bit 101, but hilarious:
Zapp: If we can hit that bullseye the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards: checkmate
m.youtube.com/watch?v=KfU69_
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Grad school level: Homer Simpson counts dumbbell reps.
95, 96, 13, 64, banana.
I call this Homeric Cardinality. It may be an obscure reference I don’t get, but I enjoy it as an ontological joke. Here it is, in German whynot.
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De rigeur reference to Borges encyclopedia. A pre-killed ontological joke that you have to back up a bit to laugh at. Tag yourself. I’m 13: Those that have just broken a flower vase. multicians.org/thvv/borges-an
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Here’s a really advanced ontological joke I enjoyed as a kid:
“What’s common between Amitabh Bachchan and Hitler?”
“I don’t know.”
“They’re both dictators, except for Amitabh Bachchan”
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Ontological humor isn’t absurdity. It creeps right up to the line of absurdity without crossing over. Lewis Carroll was a master of that.
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