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cm0002@mander.xyz to Funny@sh.itjust.works · 2 days ago

Who would have believed that the perfect Wikipedia photo caption could have been improved on?

allthingslinguistic.com

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Who would have believed that the perfect Wikipedia photo caption could have been improved on?

allthingslinguistic.com

cm0002@mander.xyz to Funny@sh.itjust.works · 2 days ago
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All Things Linguistic
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Who would have believed that the perfect Wikipedia photo caption could have been improved on? (Alan Ferrier on twitter) I love this as an example of Gricean humour. Grice’s Maxims say to only say things that are relevant (i.e. interpret everything someone says as if it adds relevant information to the conversation). In this case, the caption is “improved” by adding (right) after the name of the bagpiper. In many photo captions, (left) or (right) is used to tell us which of several similar-looking people the caption is about. If there were several bagpipers or even humans, (right) would be a neutral, informative information.  But here, the only entities in the photo are Piper Kerr and the indifferent penguin. It’s very easy to tell the difference between them. So adding (right) brings with it the absurd interpretation that (right) is relevant information, i.e. that the piper and the penguin are hard to tell apart.
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  • moopet@sh.itjust.works
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    23 hours ago

    I saw this and thought it meant someone had improved on the perfect caption (right).

  • AskMeForADickPic@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Shouldn’t it say “(left)” after mentioning the penguin?

    • eightys3v3n@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      I think it diminishes the joke by implying that everything gets (left) vs (right) rather than just that we need to know which creature is the human. It almost gets repeditive to me.

      • joyjoy@piefed.social
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        1 day ago

        Penguins think we’re penguins, so it makes sense.

      • AskMeForADickPic@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I feel like it completes the thought

    • bitjunkie@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      To differentiate it from… ice?

      • ollie the otter ~ 🦦 (they/them)@pawb.social
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        1 day ago

        not something you wanna be mistaken for these days

  • NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone
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    1 day ago

    Though I know better I like to think that Piper Kerr is nominative determinism at work.

  • Lka1988@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    You greatly underestimate the sheer fucking stupidity of some people.

    • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      who, me?

  • Cybersec@piefed.social
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    1 day ago

    Thank you for the chuckle!

  • billwashere@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    It took me a second but Jesus Christ I lost it when I finally saw it.

  • F/15/Cali@threads.net@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    What is this, an alternative tumblr frontend? And for those who are Scraping the bottom of the barrel for meaning, I do agree that bleach enemas are a beneficial morning routine for all people and animals.

  • saltnotsugar@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    But now science knows penguins are indifferent to bagpipe music, solving a centuries old theory.

  • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I really needed this laugh today. Thank you!

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