Enough with "phonetic" spelling in Jokes


Intentional mis-spelling in jokes  

19 members have voted

  1. 1. Should users be banned from using "accents" in jokes?

    • Yes
      5
    • No
      14
    • It depends (please explain)
      0


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I don't know about anyone else, but I think Neowin should institute a rule about Jokes.... When somebody posts one, PLEASE do not use spelling to make it "read" like it would sound if a person with an accent said it.

Example:

<Snip>

The Italian replies, 'I no hava no broom. You saida to the Chinesea fella that he a wasa ina charge of supplies, but he hasa disappeared and I no coulda finda him nowhere.'

<Snip>

The Scotsman replies, 'Aye, that ye did laddie, boot ah could nae get meself a shoovel."

Seriously, people.... While it is possible to figure out what they were trying to say, it's a pain in the ass. The "accent" does not make the joke funnier. It makes it harder to read, not everybody can understand the "accent," it isn't necessary.

Frankly, I know what a German/Italian/French/Chinese/... accent sounds like. If I want to "hear" the accent, I can hear it in my head.

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Don't you have other more important things to complain about? :blink:

Jeeez.

Part of jokes is the accent used/way it's written at times, can't understand, go read another joke, there's millions.

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^ I CAN read and understand them. I just find the "accent" very annoying. It's like a joke you have to have explained to you; it just isn't funny anymore.

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You know adding the accent in jokes does make it harder to read so how will he know if he likes it when he can't read it?

If you can't read it, it's not a joke for you.

Chances are, if you don't understand or cant "translate", for example, Scots dialect, the joke won't be of any interest as it's probably going to be about Scotland most of the time.

^ I CAN read and understand them. I just find the "accent" very annoying. It's like a joke you have to have explained to you; it just isn't funny anymore.

What's the problem then?

If you dislike the effort of "understanding", avoid the joke :p

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What's the problem then?

If you dislike the effort of "understanding", avoid the joke :p

[Joke] / [Video] / [Pic] tags are hardly necessary, but they are mandatory.... Automatically blanking out certain words with asterisks isn't really necessary, either; "If you don't like the language, don't read the post."

Why not require jokes to be worded so they don't take any effort to read them? It's a usability issue. I'm not saying they need to be 100% well-written, good grammar & spelling..... Just don't make it harder to read than is necessary.

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[Joke] / [Video] / [Pic] tags are hardly necessary, but they are mandatory.... Automatically blanking out certain words with asterisks isn't really necessary, either; "If you don't like the language, don't read the post."

Why not require jokes to be worded so they don't take any effort to read them? It's a usability issue. I'm not saying they need to be 100% well-written, good grammar & spelling..... Just don't make it harder to read than is necessary.

If news posts describing the election were written like that, fine, you would have a point.

But you're talking about JOKES, J-O-K-E-S.

There are millions online, just avoid reading jokes that are culturally personalised, it is not hard and my brains wondering what on earth possessed you to make this topic :blink:

People aren't going to reword the thousands of jokes that exist in a cultural tone just to suit your needs :laugh:

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If news posts, describing the election were written like that, fine, you would have a point.

But you're talking about JOKES, J-O-K-E-S.

There are millions online, just avoid reading jokes that are culturally personalised, it is not hard and my brains wondering what on earth possessed you to make this topic :blink:

People aren't going to reword the thousands of jokes that exist in a cultural tone just to suit your needs :laugh:

I don't think my suggestion is unreasonable. You might not have a problem with it, but it doesn't mean it isn't a legitimate concern.

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I don't think my suggestion is unreasonable. You might not have a problem with it, but it doesn't mean it isn't a legitimate concern.

I'm sorry, but it's not a concern.

There is no chance Neowin will enforce people to translate cultural jokes just to suit your requirements.

Avoid the jokes you don't want to read is your solution.

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I'm sorry, but it's not a concern.

There is no chance Neowin will enforce people to translate cultural jokes just to suit your requirements.

Avoid the jokes you don't want to read is your solution.

Using the example joke I quoted, explain to me how the "accent" improves the joke. It isn't a cultural joke at all; the 3 'races' could have been "Alien," Brazilian, and African. Or Canadian/American/European. Or Middle Eastern/Greek/Peruvian. IN MY OPINION, the accent does not contribute anything meaningful to the joke.

If the joke was trying to make light of a cultural trait (eg Canadians like to say "eh"), then a cultural reference through an "accent" may very well be appropriate.

In most cases, however, the accent contributes nothing (again, IMO). I realize some people will disagree.

This is NOT about changing Neowin to "suit my requirements." I do realize that Neowin is a community and not my personal fiefdom... The reason I started the thread is because, for the purposes of having a discussion on usability, it IS a legitimate issue -- whether you like it or not. The "accent" DOES make the joke harder to read, although the degree to which that is true varies from person to person.

Your view that "accents" are acceptable is no more or less valid than my view that I'd rather not have to read them. That doesn't my view needs to prevail, but it is worth a discussion.

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I actually like it when the accent is in the joke.. I mean you are READING it instead of hearing it.. So it does help get into the joke per say

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I like the "built-in" accent.

Makes you read it the way it was meant to be read/heard.

Not only that, it's always funny hearing that stereotypical Italian accent too :laugh:

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