Talk:169: Words that End in GRY

Ok, everything on this page, I already got.  The bit I came here for, is the exact nature of the ambiguity.  What is 'the phrase'? 
"The English language that end in gry", he's wrong because there are more than three words. 
"The English language", he's wrong because none of them end in gry. 
"There are three words in the English language ...", wrong again because language isn't the third word. 
So...? --  Zergling_man 58.96.88.83 15:24, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

The second paragraph in the explanation is what you are looking for.  But as a brief overview: The reason it's easy to miss is that the words are written as a dialog would happen.  If it had been properly punctuated it would have read "There are three words in 'the English language' that end with gry: 'Angry' and 'Hungry' are two.  What's the third?"  Cueball is saying there are three words in the phrase 'the English language' but to distract his intended victim he continues the sentence so the phrase is hidden among other words that, when taken as a whole, have a seeming continuity.  This is why Black Hat cuts off Cueball's hand.  Because the "joke" is not funny and being intentionally ambiguous and then being smug when the ambiguity has its intended effect is not humor.  lcarsos_a (talk) 16:01, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

But this doesn't actually answer my question.  Take it without the distraction. " There are three words in the English language that end in gry.  What's the third?"  Even then, it still doesn't make any sense.  If you take it as "there are three words in the English language.  What's the third?",  then you're left with "that end in gry: Angry and hungry are two", and that doesn't make any sense at all.  I'm not seeing how there's any way both meanings can be valid, whatever you do to this, it seems at least one is completely nonsensical. --  Zergling_man 58.96.88.83 13:00, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

The trouble is that Randall told the joke incorrectly... it should be (with proper punctuation) "There are three words in 'The English Language'.  Ending in 'gry' there are 'angry' and 'hungry' What is the third word?"  190.214.5.29 04:59, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

I think a better way to say it is:

There are at least 3 words in "the English language that end with 'gry'. ' Angry' and 'hungry' are two".  What is the third word?  81.23.24.39 08:33, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

For anyone who is curious, the answer is "gryphon."  Greyson (talk) 20:47, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

No; the original question asked for 3 words that had 'gry' in the end. ' Angry' and 'hungry' have 'gry' in the back end. ' Gryphon' has 'gry' in the front end. 

Also, sudo sign all your comments by adding 4 tildes in the back end of your comment.  Greyson (talk) 19:37, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

actually, as you van read in the explanation, the entire question is wrong, the joke should not have the requirement of English words ending with gry, but have the question simply be there are only three words in the English language, what is the third, prefaced by a misguiding comment about words that end with gry, like angry and hungry.  The point of the joke is that this preface is not part of the question, and as such it creates a hilarious intentional misunderstanding.  145.44.88.75 10:01, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

I fear you are missing the point.  The comic is intentionally written ambiguously to highlight the frustration caused when one misuses grammar in retelling the joke.  The original joke is grammatically correct: the third word of the phrase "the English Language" is "language."  The reference to words ending in "gry" is just a distraction.  However, if the distraction is combined with the phrase, then the grammar becomes confusing, ruining the joke.  Lanejb24

I really doubt this is Cueball, as he is seen later with both arms, and he is nowhere near as much of an asshole (or an idiot) to tell this joke incorrectly.  75.185.176.214 18:45, 8 August 2013 (UTC) tildes for the win

There are many Cueballs, just read the page on him.  However, this doesn't exactly fit the normal Cueball's character.  Gman314 (talk) 16:40, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

The title text is missing.  Am I right that Randall states that postmodernists are not clever?--Dgbrt (talk) 19:31, 8 August 2013 (UTC)

No, I would say that Randall is making a joke about postmodern art.  Stereotypically, postmodern art is very subtle and symbolic and doesn't look like much, but there is still a message hiding underneath.  Randall is saying that they're not conveying their point well, but are still acting smug when people don't understand their poorly communicated point.  Gman314 (talk) 16:40, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

What makes you think that it only refers to postmodern art and not postmodernization in general?  Pacerier (talk) 19:41, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

No, but almost.  Randall does feel that post-modernists are prone to this behavior, and this behavior is not clever.  108.162.219.58 01:44, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

And where is the source for "Randall does feel that post-modernists are prone to this behavior"?Pacerier (talk) 19:41, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

Can someone explain what is the significance of BlackHat cutting off Cueball's hand?Pacerier (talk) 19:41, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

He's punishing Cueball for being smug.  It's not significant that it's the hand in particular (that just seems to be the limb closest to BlackHat).  108.162.216.38 23:35, 12 September 2015 (UTC)

He's trying to give Cueball an easy way to remember to not behave this way in the future.  It's funny because the lesson is a failure, it causes more long term harm than long term benefit.  Also it is unlikely that Cueball is paying attention to the lesson anyway, being distracted by the pain and loss. 
Or possibly it's funny because Black Hat is just causing his usual mayhem, and pretends to be a teacher to hide his intention, and does an unconvincing job.  Shingleslant (talk)

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