He claimed he could beat anyone on the site in a trial of strength and took particular delight in mocking one of the older workers. Eventually the older man became irritated by the taunts.
“Okay,” said the older man, “put your money where your mouth is. I’ll bet you a week’s wages that I can haul something in a wheelbarrow over to that outbuilding that you won’t be able to wheel back.”
“You’re a weak old man!” said the cocky young upstart. “This will be like taking candy from a baby. But if you don’t mind losing a week’s wages, off you go.”
With that, the older man grabbed the wheelbarrow by the handles.
Then, nodding to the young man, he said: “Okay, get in.”
Joke Poo: The Tech Support Call
A hotshot coder, fresh out of college, was constantly bragging in the open-plan office about his coding prowess. He claimed he could debug any piece of software faster than anyone else in the company, especially mocking a seasoned, grey-bearded programmer who preferred using older languages. Eventually, the veteran programmer, sipping his lukewarm coffee, grew tired of the digital chest-thumping.
“Alright, kid,” the older programmer sighed, “put your code where your mouth is. I bet you a month’s salary that I can send you a problem report so complex, so deeply embedded in legacy code, that you won’t be able to solve it.”
“A month’s salary? This will be a joke! I can crack anything! You’re on, grandpa, but prepare to eat your words and maybe update your resume while you’re at it.” The young coder puffed out his chest.
With a twinkle in his eye, the older programmer leaned back in his chair and opened his email client.
Then, after typing a single sentence, he forwarded the email to the young coder, saying, “Okay, take a look at this.”
The email contained only the following message: “My printer won’t work.”
Okay, let’s break down this joke and see what comedic gold we can extract!
Analysis:
- Core Element: The humor lies in the misdirection and the ironic reversal of expectations. The muscular man assumes a challenge of physical strength with an inanimate object, while the older man’s challenge is for the young man himself to be the heavy load.
- Key Elements:
- The Boastful Young Man: Represents youthful arrogance and assumptions based on physical appearance.
- The Seemingly Weak Old Man: Represents experience, cunning, and a more strategic approach to problem-solving.
- The Wheelbarrow: A common tool associated with physical labor.
- The Bet: The setup that creates the context for the misdirection.
Comedic Enrichment – An Amusing “Did You Know?”
Did you know: The record for the heaviest object ever moved using a wheelbarrow is disputed, mostly because nobody officially keeps tabs on the “Heaviest Thing Wheelbarrowed” category (yet!). But some engineering feats have used wheelbarrows to move tons of materials, with each trip weighing far less than you think a muscular man could carry! For example, back in the early days of dam construction, laborers often used wheelbarrows to move concrete, mud, and rocks. Imagine trying to move the components to build the Hoover Dam with a wheelbarrow. You’d need a whole team of muscular young men… and maybe one clever old timer to point them in the right direction.
New Joke (building on the original):
A programmer, known for his keyboard prowess, was bragging at the office about his typing speed. “I bet I can type faster than any of you!” he declared.
A grizzled systems administrator, nursing his coffee, sighed. “Alright, kid. I bet you a week’s salary I can get more code checked into the repository before lunch than you can type.”
The programmer scoffed, “Easy money!”
The systems administrator calmly walked over to the server room, rebooted the failing production server, and then smiled at the programmer and said “You can just go ahead and check in”.