They see a bull turd
One of them goes:
“He-he, i’ll give you $1,000 if you eat it”
The second one starts gobbling it up, finishes it all
“You owe me $1,000”
They carry on walking and they see another turd
First one, knowing that he owes $1,000 goes
“Wanna bet i can eat that too for $1,000?”
“Yeah, go on” goes the second one
So he starts eating it all and they carry one walking. Suddenly one of them stops and goes:
“Do you fuckin’ realise what we’ve done here?”
“…”
“We’ve just raised the GDP by $2,000”
Joke Poo: The Programmer Pair
Two programmers are reviewing code in a startup office.
They stumble upon a particularly messy block of code.
One of them says, “I’ll give you $100 to refactor that dumpster fire.”
The second programmer, desperate for ramen money, dives in, meticulously cleaning and optimizing the code.
“Alright, hand over the $100!”
They continue the code review, and soon find another section of equally atrocious code.
The first programmer, regretting his earlier generosity, says, “You know what? I’ll pay you $100 if I can refactor this one.”
The second programmer, smells a setup and agrees.
The first programmer spends an hour wrestling with the code, finally making it presentable.
As they walk away, the second programmer stops. “Wait a minute…”
“…”
“We just wasted two hours and accomplished nothing except moving $100 between our accounts.”
Alright, let’s dissect this economist joke.
Joke Breakdown:
- Setup: Two economists, walking in the countryside, establish a setting removed from typical economic activity (office, market, etc.).
- Inciting Incident: They encounter a bull turd, leading to a bizarre bet.
- Punchline: The absurd act of eating turds, framed within the context of GDP increase, exposes the silliness of focusing solely on economic activity without considering its actual value or purpose.
- Humor: The joke works on several levels:
- The unexpected act of eating feces is inherently disgusting and funny.
- The reduction of complex economic concepts (GDP) to such a crude and meaningless activity is satirical.
- The realization of their absurdity is delayed, adding to the comedic timing.
Key Elements:
- Economists: The stereotypes associated with economists (rationality, focus on quantifiable data, sometimes detached from reality).
- Bull Turd: Represents something inherently worthless and disgusting.
- Bet/Money: The incentive that drives the irrational behavior.
- GDP: The gross domestic product, a measure of a country’s economic output, which is ironically increased by a useless activity.
- Grossness/Absurdity: Contrast of supposedly sophisticated economic minds engaging in something so primitive.
New Humor Ideas:
1. Witty Observation:
Economists: the only people who can turn a pile of manure into a leading economic indicator… and then argue about whether it’s a leading or lagging indicator.
2. Economist Joke Variation:
Two behavioral economists are walking through a park. One sees a dog sniffing at a particularly large and steaming pile of… well, you know. He turns to the other and says, “I bet you $100 you won’t stick your nose in that.” The other economist, always up for a test of the ‘rational actor’ theory, immediately dives in, sniffs deeply, and emerges with a look of disgust. “Okay, here’s your $100.” They walk along a bit, and the economist who paid out the bet stops. “You know,” he says, “that was disgusting. I’m not sure it was worth the $100.” The other economist smiles. “Ah, but think of the sunk cost fallacy! Now we both have the experience, and you can’t take it back. Your utility function will forever be altered. Plus, I needed the cash for research purposes.”
3. Amusing “Did You Know?” Fact Inspired by the Joke:
Did you know that in the late 19th century, “guano islands” off the coast of Peru became incredibly valuable due to the high demand for bird poop (guano) as fertilizer? These islands generated so much revenue that they significantly boosted Peru’s GDP. So, technically, economists in the past did rely on excrement to gauge economic prosperity! Although, I suspect they weren’t eating it for the pleasure of doing so.
Why these are funny (hopefully!):
- They build upon the established humor of the original joke.
- They incorporate real economic concepts like sunk cost fallacy, utility functions, and historical economic oddities.
- They highlight the potential disconnect between economic theory and real-world behavior.
I tried to lean into the absurdity and the inherent contradictions of economics as a social science while providing (potentially) amusing expansions to the original joke.