I was watching the latest speedrun of Quake on YouTube (which completes
the game in under 12 minutes), and I wrote a comment along these lines
as a joke:

"Nowadays it takes hours and hours to complete a game. Back in the good
old times you could complete a game like this in under 12 minutes."

I admit it might not be the funniest and witties of puns, but I think
it's at least slightly funny as humor.

I got a really odd response by someone calling me an idiot and explaining
to me what a speedrun is and whatnot. I couldn't help but respond with a
likewise witty remark along the lines of "if you don't understand humor,
then perhaps you shouldn't be calling other people 'idiots'..."

Ok, that was just one case. Some time later I reused the same joke on
a tool-assisted speedrun of Solstice. (Yeah, it's a bit lame to use the
same joke again, but hey, I'm not *that* good at inventing humor. I have
to use what I have. :P )

Again someone didn't get it, and also told me about what a speedrun is,
as if I didn't know. I had to actually *explain* the joke (and we all know
what explaining the joke does to it.) Then this exemplar of human intellect
responded by saying that it's "not funny." (Well, duh. If you don't
understand humor and the joke has to be explained to you, what do you
expect?)

I am just wondering how obscure this kind of pun really is. It doesn't
look so obscure to me, but maybe that's just me.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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On 17/02/2013 9:12 AM, Warp wrote:
> I am just wondering how obscure this kind of pun really is. It doesn't
> look so obscure to me, but maybe that's just me.

Well it probably is a bit "deep" for them.
It is a bit deep for me too, to be honest.

I don't see a pun in there, so you would have to explain it to me too.
It sounds more like an anti joke or plain sarcasm.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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Le 17/02/2013 10:12, Warp nous fit lire :
> "Nowadays it takes hours and hours to complete a game. Back in the good
> old times you could complete a game like this in under 12 minutes."

you might want to give a small clue, because it can be taken
first-degree or with humor. such as an extension:
* That was speedrun.
* And then nobody cares to explain speedrun...

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Stephen <mca### [at] aolcom> wrote:
> On 17/02/2013 9:12 AM, Warp wrote:
> > I am just wondering how obscure this kind of pun really is. It doesn't
> > look so obscure to me, but maybe that's just me.
>
> Well it probably is a bit "deep" for them.
> It is a bit deep for me too, to be honest.
>
> I don't see a pun in there, so you would have to explain it to me too.
> It sounds more like an anti joke or plain sarcasm.


it's clearly humor to me, which is all about exaggeration:  while you may
complete any game in very smalltimes when you know all its ins and outs after
playing it a zillion times, he's using a speedrun to criticize today's cinematic
experiences where at least half of the game is watching some keyset events.

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On 17/02/2013 1:24 PM, nemesis wrote:
>
> it's clearly humor to me, which is all about exaggeration:

I got the exaggeration, bit.

> while you may
> complete any game in very smalltimes when you know all its ins and outs after
> playing it a zillion times, he's using a speedrun to criticize today's cinematic
> experiences where at least half of the game is watching some keyset events.

Well since I don't play games that went over my head.
I thought it meant that in "days of yore" games were either easier, or 
less immersive and today's games are better (value) as they take longer.
Or
just being absurd by rephrasing the sense. (I like that kind of joke.)

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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Am 17.02.2013 10:12, schrieb Warp:

> I am just wondering how obscure this kind of pun really is. It doesn't
> look so obscure to me, but maybe that's just me.

You may have noticed earlier - even in this very newsgroup here - that 
Finnish humor is absolutely incompatible to the rest of the world :-P 
(And what else would you expect? After all, "humor" is latin for 
moisture, and we all know what happens to moisture in the Finnish 
winters...)

Add the fact that part of the YouTube audience won't recognize any kind 
of humor if it hit them right in their face, and there you go...

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On Sun, 17 Feb 2013 04:12:28 -0500, Warp wrote:

> "Nowadays it takes hours and hours to complete a game. Back in the good
> old times you could complete a game like this in under 12 minutes."
> 
> I admit it might not be the funniest and witties of puns, but I think
> it's at least slightly funny as humor.

I'm not seeing a pun here.

Jim

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Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> On Sun, 17 Feb 2013 04:12:28 -0500, Warp wrote:

> > "Nowadays it takes hours and hours to complete a game. Back in the good
> > old times you could complete a game like this in under 12 minutes."
> > 
> > I admit it might not be the funniest and witties of puns, but I think
> > it's at least slightly funny as humor.

> I'm not seeing a pun here.

Then I suppose you also don't see the pun in humor like "when I was a kid
we had to walk to school up-hill. Both ways."

(Not the same joke, of course. But the same category.)

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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On 17/02/2013 9:41 PM, Warp wrote:
> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> On Sun, 17 Feb 2013 04:12:28 -0500, Warp wrote:
>
>
>> I'm not seeing a pun here.
>
> Then I suppose you also don't see the pun in humor like "when I was a kid
> we had to walk to school up-hill. Both ways."
>

Because there is no pun. At least not in English.

> (Not the same joke, of course. But the same category.)
>

As are the four Yorkshire men.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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Stephen <mca### [at] aolcom> wrote:
> On 17/02/2013 9:41 PM, Warp wrote:
> > Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> >> On Sun, 17 Feb 2013 04:12:28 -0500, Warp wrote:
> >
> >
> >> I'm not seeing a pun here.
> >
> > Then I suppose you also don't see the pun in humor like "when I was a kid
> > we had to walk to school up-hill. Both ways."
> >

> Because there is no pun. At least not in English.

Ok, I may be misusing the term "pun" here, but that's not really the point.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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