Comments on: What the grownups are talking about

What the grownups are talking about

stupidsexyFlanders — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 02:09:26 -0800

"Did you see the politics? It made me angry." Conversations by Grownups As Imagined By Kids.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 02:21:29 -0800

UNICEF: Ha ha ha! Those fools! Soon I will have all the money in the world. For I am UNICEF, evil king of Halloween! SERVANT: Sir . . . don't you think you've stolen enough from the children? Maybe you should let them keep the money this year. UNICEF: Never! The children shall toil forever to serve my greed! Slagging UNICEF. That's cold man. And it isn't even funny.

By: beerbajay

beerbajay — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 02:28:32 -0800

nice!

By: tomble

tomble — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 02:28:52 -0800

I LOL'ed. Then I verbed a TLA.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 02:39:43 -0800

3BM your sense of humour will be in the last place you look.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 02:52:28 -0800

I thought the dinner conversation was fairly accurate. And funny.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 03:07:41 -0800

Funny stuff! I especially liked the last (60's) one.

By: griphus

griphus — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 03:28:09 -0800

Now I'm going to think of the protest one every time I'm in Union Square. Also: Thanks for the link. It reminded me to move the last two weeks of New Yorkers from the kitchen table into the ~~bathroom~~ reading salon.

By: wendell

wendell — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 03:56:35 -0800

The cartoon in the middle of the page (with the overachieving fisherman) was the funniest thing at that link. And I know my sense of humor is unimpaired, since I got a good laugh from "I've been waiting to say that since 1989", "If found, recoil in horror", "Random pedestrians are joining him in a complicated dance routine" and whatever xkcd did today (it's almost always funny). And if you want good "kid viewpoint" jokes, try "The ball kills tiny people" and "Mayo smells like old people". Webcomics are your best entertainment value.

By: griphus

griphus — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 04:12:40 -0800

wendell - I hate to piss on your parade, but sadly, the cartoons rotate on reload.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 04:12:44 -0800

MOM: I had a lot of wine, and now I'm crazy! I just had a horrible flashback to my own family's dinner table circa 1977.

By: slimepuppy

slimepuppy — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 04:20:02 -0800

Wow. Wendell reads all the same webcomics I do.

By: Jess the Mess

Jess the Mess — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 04:22:51 -0800

Hehehehehe. Loved the dinner table one. And the college kid one was mean but true.

By: Dataphage

Dataphage — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 04:24:28 -0800

Mr. President! You must read what people are saying in MetaFilter!

By: rxrfrx

rxrfrx — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 04:39:44 -0800

MetaFilter: It was so good. There was a big sex.

By: wendell

wendell — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 05:07:37 -0800

the cartoons rotate on reload I suspected they might, which was why I specifically said "the overachieving fisherman" one... Of course, it being the New Yorker, they probably have a couple dozen cartoons about overachieving fishermen...

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 06:38:49 -0800

This entire thread was worth it just for wendell's link to that Count Your Sheep webcomic. I'm in love.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 06:39:54 -0800

hahahaha. I remember playing "house" as a kid. So much fun (I think. I remember setting up the games "you're the mom, you're the kid" etc. I don't remember what we did when we played, other then run around the neighborhood) It's really insane how elaborate children's games get. It's really interesting how they can go on and on in their imaginations.

By: bluejayk

bluejayk — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:02:52 -0800

Shouldn't this be 'Conversations by grown-ups as imagined by kids as imagined by adults'? Having participated in a politically motivated high school protest walk-out way back when, I can personally attest that damn near everybody involved thought of it primarily as a good way to get out of class and enjoy the afternoon. This reads kinda like that recent Thomas Wolfe "what the hell are kids thinking about these days?" novel.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:19:13 -0800

Shouldn't this be 'Conversations by grown-ups as imagined by kids as imagined by adults'? That pretty much captures the smarmy essence of all the humor-like shit to appear in the New Yorker on a weekly basis.

By: thecjm

thecjm — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:24:49 -0800

So when did the New Yorker decide to become McSweeny's, only less funny?

By: betweenthebars

betweenthebars — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:33:41 -0800

Do you know what else is not that funny? The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest Game.

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:44:28 -0800

How about the anti-caption contest? The answer to the caption contest is known, after all.

By: rolypolyman

rolypolyman — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 08:29:16 -0800

Yeah, I don't see any indication that this was written by kids, except for the author recalling his own third grade perspective on one of them. How hard would have been to have actual kids writing the conversations?

By: thirteenkiller

thirteenkiller — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 08:41:02 -0800

The purpose of public protest is to raise public awareness of a cause and the fact that people are backing the cause, through media reporting. The media don't report on it otherwise. Also those aren't by kids lol.

By: solid-one-love

solid-one-love — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 09:18:58 -0800

So when did the New Yorker decide to become McSweeney's, only ~~less funny~~ read by five thousand times as many people?

By: Sprout the Vulgarian

Sprout the Vulgarian — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 09:30:10 -0800

Oh, I was hoping for actual quotes form kids about what they thought their parents were saying. Very disappointing.

By: painquale

painquale — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:12:18 -0800

I thought it was funny. But I'm not going to link to a bunch of webcomics to justify my sense of humor, so feel free to disregard my opinion.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:30:27 -0800

GRANDFATHER: Hey, do you guys know what God looks like? ALL: Yes. GRANDFATHER: Don't tell the kids. OK, that was funny.

By: craven_morhead

craven_morhead — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:33:31 -0800

I laughed. That is all.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 11:11:04 -0800

There are actual monsters in the world, but when I post on Metafilter I pretend like there aren't.

By: damn dirty ape

damn dirty ape — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 12:47:45 -0800

How hard would have been to have actual kids writing the conversations? Not too hard. This American Life had a bit (or two) called Kid Logic. Its about the things kids believe, like if you held a girl's hand for more than a few seconds that meant you were married, etc.

By: The God Complex

The God Complex — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:30:08 -0800

How hard would have been to have actual kids writing the conversations? Not very. A follow-up, "How interesting would it have been to have actual kids writing the conversations?" Not very. Kids are, by their very nature, not very well equipped to writing an entertaining article. That's why you see so many "fake" projects like this (fake crayon letters, etc.).

By: Aloysius Bear

Aloysius Bear — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:13:03 -0800

~~Kids are~~The New Yorker is, by their very nature, not very well equipped to writing an entertaining article.

By: sid

sid — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 21:32:41 -0800

I liked the pigeon poop one better

By: DenOfSizer

DenOfSizer — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 03:37:34 -0800

So when did the New Yorker decide to become McSweeney's, only less funny read by five thousand times as many people? Oh, unclench Mabel. There's some space for a chuckle somewhere in between the Sy Hersch and the listings, isn't there?

By: solid-one-love

solid-one-love — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 08:42:00 -0800

Oh, unclench Mabel. There's some space for a chuckle somewhere in between the Sy Hersch and the listings, isn't there? I'm guessing you missed one of the previous comments in addition to the point.