hacker humour

hacker humour
humor
humour

   A distinctive style of shared intellectual humour found among
   hackers, having the following marked characteristics:

   1. Fascination with form-vs.-content jokes, paradoxes, and
   humour having to do with confusion of metalevels (see {meta}).
   One way to make a hacker laugh: hold a red index card in front
   of him/her with "GREEN" written on it, or vice-versa (note,
   however, that this is funny only the first time).

   2. Elaborate deadpan parodies of large intellectual
   constructs, such as specifications (see {write-only memory}),
   standards documents, language descriptions (see {INTERCAL}),
   and even entire scientific theories (see {quantum
   bogodynamics}, {computron}).

   3. Jokes that involve screwily precise reasoning from bizarre,
   ludicrous, or just grossly counter-intuitive premises.

   4. Fascination with puns and wordplay.

   5. A fondness for apparently mindless humour with subversive
   currents of intelligence in it - for example, old Warner
   Brothers and Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons, the Marx brothers,
   the early B-52s, and Monty Python's Flying Circus.  Humour
   that combines this trait with elements of high camp and
   slapstick is especially favoured.

   6. References to the symbol-object antinomies and associated
   ideas in Zen Buddhism and (less often) Taoism.  See {has the X
   nature}, {Discordianism}, {zen}, {ha ha only serious}, {AI
   koan}.

   See also {filk} and {retrocomputing}.  If you have an itchy
   feeling that all 6 of these traits are really aspects of one
   thing that is incredibly difficult to talk about exactly, you
   are (a) correct and (b) responding like a hacker.  These
   traits are also recognizable (though in a less marked form)
   throughout {science-fiction fandom}.

   (1995-12-18)