[stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
 

ok, this is about a tshirthell-t-shirt:
'This shirt intentionally left blank'
Isn't there a verb missing ('is /has been/whatever left blank')? Or is my english grammar that far off? Or did I just not get the 'joke'?

Re: [stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
 

The joke is the same as, say, posting a sign that says "post no signs."

Weak irony.

The grammer really wasn't part of the joke.

Re: [stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
 

it makes sense.
it's saying it has been left blank but it obviously hasn't been left blank because the words this shirt intentionally left blank is on there.

Re: [stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
 

ok, so I did get it right.
What about the missing 'is'? When I read this it somehow 'feels' wrong...

Re: [stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
 

it's a phrase commonly found on exam papers (t-shirt replaced with 'page'), it reads fine without the 'is'...

Re: [stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
 

The grammar is correct. Left is past tense.

Dog intentionally ate food.

But yeah, it does feel wrong.

Re: [stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
 

You are right, it is gramatically wrong - so don't worry about it. It just happens to be fairly common usage on exam papers as SYMM said, so it's referring to them as part of the joke :).

Re: [stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
 

They need a shirt that says "This brain intentionally left blank", I know of a few people I would definetly give it to as birthday or Christmas presents.

Re: [stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
 

It's not quite the same.

Your sentence is in the active voice. The Dog (subject) ate (verb) the food (object).

The OP is in the passive voice: the t-shirt is the subject, it is 'being left blank'

Re: [stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
 

To answer your grammar question, on most federal documents here in the states they have a page that says: "This page intentionally left blank."

It's more of a dialect\slang thing I think because it's usually not noticed.

Re: [stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
 

If you leave out the 'This' aswell it doesnt sound that wrong.
"page/shirt intentionally left blank" would sound like some kind of short form.
Anyway, doesnt matter, I dont think it's funny anymore, but thanks for the information everyone.

Re: [stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
 

If you leave out the "this" you ignore the pure bloody-mindedness of the beaurocractic mind. "Page intentionally left blank" could refer to any page, and indeed lessens the humour of the t-shirt because it loses definite statement of absurdism.