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4.2 KiB
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27 lines
4.2 KiB
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>hacker humor</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../H.html" title="H"/><link rel="previous" href="hacker-ethic.html" title="hacker ethic"/><link rel="next" href="Hackers-the-movie.html" title="Hackers (the movie)"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">hacker humor</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="hacker-ethic.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">H</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="Hackers-the-movie.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="hacker-humor"/><dt xmlns="" id="hacker-humor"><b>hacker humor</b></dt></dt><dd><p> A distinctive style of shared intellectual humor found among
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hackers, having the following marked characteristics:</p><p>1. Fascination with form-vs.-content jokes, paradoxes, and humor
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having to do with confusion of metalevels (see
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<a href="../M/meta.html"><i class="glossterm">meta</i></a>). One way to make a hacker laugh: hold a red
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index card in front of him/her with “<span class="quote">GREEN</span>” written on it, or
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vice-versa (note, however, that this is funny only the first time).</p><p>2. Elaborate deadpan parodies of large intellectual constructs, such
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as specifications (see <a href="../W/write-only-memory.html"><i class="glossterm">write-only memory</i></a>), standards
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documents, language descriptions (see <a href="../I/INTERCAL.html"><i class="glossterm">INTERCAL</i></a>), and
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even entire scientific theories (see
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<a href="../Q/quantum-bogodynamics.html"><i class="glossterm">quantum bogodynamics</i></a>, <a href="../C/computron.html"><i class="glossterm">computron</i></a>).</p><p>3. Jokes that involve screwily precise reasoning from bizarre,
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ludicrous, or just grossly counter-intuitive premises.</p><p>4. Fascination with puns and wordplay.</p><p>5. A fondness for apparently mindless humor with subversive currents
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of intelligence in it — for example, old Warner Brothers and Rocky
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& Bullwinkle cartoons, the Marx brothers, the early B-52s, and Monty
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Python's Flying Circus. Humor that combines this trait with elements of
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high camp and slapstick is especially favored.</p><p>6. References to the symbol-object antinomies and associated ideas in
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Zen Buddhism and (less often) Taoism. See
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<a href="has-the-X-nature.html"><i class="glossterm">has the X nature</i></a>, <a href="../D/Discordianism.html"><i class="glossterm">Discordianism</i></a>,
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<a href="../Z/zen.html"><i class="glossterm">zen</i></a>, <a href="ha-ha-only-serious.html"><i class="glossterm">ha ha only serious</i></a>,
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<a href="../K/koan.html"><i class="glossterm">koan</i></a>.</p><p>See also <a href="../F/filk.html"><i class="glossterm">filk</i></a>,
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<a href="../R/retrocomputing.html"><i class="glossterm">retrocomputing</i></a>, and the Portrait of J. Random
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Hacker in <a href="../appendixb.html" title="Appendix B. A Portrait of J. Random Hacker">Appendix B</a>. If you have an
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itchy feeling that all six of these traits are really aspects of one thing
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that is incredibly difficult to talk about exactly, you are (a) correct and
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(b) responding like a hacker. These traits are also recognizable (though
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in a less marked form) throughout <a href="../S/science-fiction-fandom.html"><i class="glossterm">science-fiction fandom</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="hacker-ethic.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../H.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="Hackers-the-movie.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">hacker ethic </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Hackers (the movie)</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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