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9 Aug 2006, 19:20
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,290
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[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'?
__________________
im not tolerant, i just dont care.
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9 Aug 2006, 19:24
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#2
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USS Oklahoma
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 2,500
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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.
__________________
Ignorance is curable, stupidity is not.
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9 Aug 2006, 19:25
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#3
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Bored
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Nottm ->Shef ->Croydon ->Manc ->Durham ->Sheffield
Posts: 6,506
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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.
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9 Aug 2006, 19:48
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,290
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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...
__________________
im not tolerant, i just dont care.
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9 Aug 2006, 19:51
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#5
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Love's Sweet Exile
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Living on a Stair (Now Sword-less)
Posts: 2,371
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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'...
__________________
--SYMM--
Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do
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9 Aug 2006, 20:38
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#6
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Dum Di Dum Di
Join Date: Sep 2001
Posts: 858
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Re: [stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
Quote:
Originally Posted by wu_trax
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'?
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The grammar is correct. Left is past tense.
Dog intentionally ate food.
But yeah, it does feel wrong.
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9 Aug 2006, 20:39
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#7
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Registered Awesome Person
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 5,676
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Re: [stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
Quote:
Originally Posted by wu_trax
ok, so I did get it right.
What about the missing 'is'? When I read this it somehow 'feels' wrong...
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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 .
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Finally free!
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9 Aug 2006, 20:47
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#8
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Victim of Marriage
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: NW Indiana
Posts: 784
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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.
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You mean there's life outside the internet...oh man I'm screwed.
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9 Aug 2006, 21:06
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#9
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Love's Sweet Exile
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Living on a Stair (Now Sword-less)
Posts: 2,371
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Re: [stupid question] someone please explain the funny to me
Quote:
Originally Posted by hyfe
The grammar is correct. Left is past tense.
Dog intentionally ate food.
But yeah, it does feel wrong.
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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'
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--SYMM--
Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do
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9 Aug 2006, 21:15
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#10
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Back from timeout.
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 901
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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.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Yahwe
Gay ducks only do it because it impresses their peers.
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10 Aug 2006, 00:34
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,290
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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.
__________________
im not tolerant, i just dont care.
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10 Aug 2006, 00:52
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#12
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The Twilight of the Gods
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 23,481
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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.
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