posted
We've all seen things like this, but what made this one so funny is a) that's my name, b) I was a math major, and c) my dad and his dry wit thought it amusing to send it to me.
Posts: 691 | Registered: Nov 2008
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I guess I don't find sexism funny. Just because women tend to be bad at math doesn't mean you can take it as a rule that they will always be wrong.
Posts: 3564 | Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
No, we don't, but if we go around second guessing every internet joke that appears to ironically make fun of something stupid, we'd have to rely on actual real life people to tell jokes, and from there it's only a short, slippery slope towards physical activity and other relics of the dark ages.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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Also, there are alot of papers by Peter Nguyen that these remind me of. He apparently spent college writing papers on people he made up and alternate histories. This is one of the better ones.Posts: 549 | Registered: Feb 2008
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posted
I have so many of these types of problems saved on my computer...
I look at them when I'm bored...
You hatrackers make me feel so uncouth and barbaric. I always laugh at racist jokes, except for ones that are said in mean spirit [meaning that the person who said it was legitimately believed what he was saying] and sexual orientation jokes, gender jokes...
The absurdity of the jokes is what makes them funny.
I wouldn't laugh if I thought that the person telling the joke was expressing legitimate bigotry.
Posts: 135 | Registered: Jun 2007
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quote:Originally posted by Raymond Arnold: No, because the Holocaust wasn't a joke.
Actually, it depends on the context. One summer I was a counselor up at a Jewish summer camp, and there was a day when we were sitting around in the staff lounge, and... I'm not sure how it started, but we started telling Jewish jokes. Ethnic jokes about Jews. And I mean, every one any of us had ever heard, no holds barred. We went about 2 hours before we tapped out, and believe me, there were Holocaust jokes mixed in there.
Richard Pryor used to use the n-word regularly, and he was hilarious. It wouldn't be funny at all if I were to use it. A woman who majored in math is entitled to laugh at a joke about girls being bad at math.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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My sister has a close friend who is German and works as a marketing executive for a German company that makes ovens among other things. He was meeting with a potential distributor in the US. The distributor asked whether the ovens had a Sabbath setting. (A feature that allows observant Jews to disable things like the light that comes on when you open the oven on the Sabbath). Without thinking, my German friend responded "No, we stopped making ovens for Jews some years ago."
He then recognized the possible alternate meaning of his response and was very deeply embarrassed. All the German's I know, even those born after 1945, have a very deep sense of shame about the Holocaust and WWII. He would never have made that kind of joke intentionally, but I suspect most people would think it a very funny mistake.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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quote:Originally posted by jebus202: Just because women tend to be bad at math doesn't mean you can take it as a rule that they will always be wrong.
That is in itself a myth. There is growing evidence that the historical differences in Math skills between girls and boys were of cultural not biological origin. As cultural expectations that discourage women from being interested in math are eroded, the gender gap in math ability has virtually disappeared. reference Women don't have a significantly greater tendency to be bad at math than men.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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When I was an undergraduate, I had a summer internship where I worked with a female mathematician who was in her mid 50s. She had received her degree in the early 1950s when there were almost no women in math and the physical sciences in the US. She was the only women in all her classes but she had one professor who was a woman (who had been educated in Europe). On the first day of the Semester, this woman walked into the class and introduced herself as the professor. One of the students stood up and said "There is no way a woman can teach me anything about math". The Professor gave him a cold stare and without flinching said "You may be a particularly difficult case, but I will do my best."
The put down was so effective that the guy sat down and shut up for the rest of the semester. My colleague reported that the rest of the men studied extra hard for her class to avoid similar humiliation.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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quote:Originally posted by jebus202: Just because women tend to be bad at math doesn't mean you can take it as a rule that they will always be wrong.
That is in itself a myth. There is growing evidence that the historical differences in Math skills between girls and boys were of cultural not biological origin. As cultural expectations that discourage women from being interested in math are eroded, the gender gap in math ability has virtually disappeared. reference Women don't have a significantly greater tendency to be bad at math than men.
Ta-da, somebody finally noticed that my defence of women was sexist in itself. Took long enough.
Posts: 3564 | Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
I thought it was obviously an attempt at irony, but others don't seem to know your posting style as well.
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Lisa: A woman who majored in math is entitled to laugh at a joke about girls being bad at math.
I almost wish I could color the girl's hair blonde; then we'd have one of those jokes going around as well. It'd still be just as fitting.
Posts: 691 | Registered: Nov 2008
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posted
My most brilliant mathematics professor by far was a woman - but then again, she grew up in China. Maybe it's just a cultural thing?
My sister can't do anything with numbers to save her life, she had to get 2 tutoring sessions a week and retake several classes just to get her through high school.
The funny thing now is she's almost graduated with a degree in nursing (and regularly memorises long lists of medicines and diseases and various treatments with ease). She's had several professors suggest she go on to med school instead of taking a position as a nurse, and her response has always been "but you need to take calculus to get to med school, right?" Calculus is still her greatest fear...
Posts: 2222 | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
And now, to prove how small the Internet is, I read Vyrus' post, laughed a lot, went to Reddit.com, and found this within the first fifty links:
posted
Oh, man... That one with the guy in front of the train... I laughed, and it's totally true. I would have given full credit for that answer! Shows critical thinking!
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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It'd still be just as fitting.
