MetaFilter posts tagged with humor and history

Coffee and Other Important Matters

brain_drain — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:56:10 -0800

15 Things Worth Knowing About Coffee. 17 Things Worth Knowing About Your Cat. The MotherF**king Pterodactyl. These and various other amusements courtesy of The Oatmeal.

I Wouldn't Recommend Eating the Cookies at this 12 Step Meeting

vertigo25 — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 09:15:19 -0800

Polio: A Virus’ Struggle is a Graphic Novella by James Weldon. When we eradicate a disease, do we ever think about how it may effect the disease? Learn all about the history of Poliomyelitis, as he tells his story to the group.

Hark, A Vagrant!

flatluigi — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:40:06 -0800

Kate Beaton, Historical Cartoonist

So's your mother!

psmealey — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:44:14 -0800

History's greatest replies. Any attempt to compile history's greatest replies—or history's greatest anything, for that matter—is fraught with difficulty, so it might be more accurate to refer to the replies that follow as simply my all-time favorites.

History, writ Gangsta

psmealey — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:53:25 -0800

The 5 Most Badass U.S. Presidents of All-Time. Just in time for Presidents' Day weekend. In ascending order of badassitude: Andrew Jackson, John F. Kennedy, John Quincy Adams, George Washington and your number 1, Theodore Roosevelt. Honorable mention: FDR , Harry S Truman and James K. Polk.

Great Caricatures: History, Art & Humor

Effigy2000 — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:17:24 -0800

Great Caricatures.

A House full of insults: an informal look at the history of parliamentary put-downs

nthdegx — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 01:00:31 -0800

A House full of insults is an informal look at the history of parliamentary put-downs and their inconsistent consequences in Britain's House of Commons.

Invention Pioneers of Note

Devils Rancher — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 10:09:04 -0800

History of the Flame-broiled Burger! It's Flashy, it's Trashy, it's satirical, it's Fun-- it's The History Channel's Invention Pioneers of Note!

well, they were a big hit at Plato's Laugh Shack

amberglow — Sat, 10 Jul 2004 21:45:33 -0800

A man, just back from a trip abroad, went to an incompetent fortune-teller. He asked about his family, and the fortune-teller replied: "Everyone is fine, especially your father." When the man objected that his father had been dead for ten years, the reply came: "You have no clue who your real father is."--that's one of the jokes from The Laughter Lover (Philogelos), an ancient Greek joke book published in the 4th or 5th century AD. The New Yorker commented on it, and other old jokes here, stating about one of the possible authors: ... there is some scholarly speculation that the Hierocles in question was a fifth-century Alexandrian philosopher of that name who was once publicly flogged in Constantinople for paganism, which, as one classicist has observed, “might have given him a taste for mordant wit.”

The world of double entendre

rolo — Fri, 27 Feb 2004 09:07:28 -0800

The recent post that revived the rude ‘Rainbow’ kids show sketch reminded me of the our (that is, British) obsession with comic double entendre - the ability to accept the filthiest things as long as there is a parallel innocuous interpretation. I think it is something to do our love for wordplay and subtext, our innate hypocrisy and the belief that sex is, in fact, rather naughty. Perhaps the prime example are the Julian and Sandy sketches that ran on the BBC Radio show ‘Beyond Our Ken’ from 1964-69. Over Sunday lunch, millions (there was ONLY the BBC in those days) listened to two very camp characters saying outrageous things in Polari (underground gay slang). A much earlier prime example is the great dirty joke (it’s the one in blue at the bottom of the page) that got comedian Max Miller (died in 1963) banned from the BBC for 5 years. A more recent case of innuendo is, of course, Mrs. Slocombe’s pussy. Of course the double entendre can also be unintentional.

That's your mum, that is

boredomjockey — Thu, 19 Feb 2004 21:37:42 -0800

History Today made me laugh. Why had I never heard of Newman and Baddiel before? (I suppose because I'm American and my English friend hadn't sent me that link until today.) Don't read the transcripts, watch the videos.

Fencing Sucks

Shane — Mon, 30 Jun 2003 11:28:57 -0800

No, seriously, they score by touching the opponent in the Valid Target Area. The touches are monitored electronically via wires coming out of the fencers' backs, similar to the technology used to control Dan Rather.
-from Dave Barry on Fencing in the humor section of Fencing Sucks.

History of the Internet as We Know It

thebabelfish — Mon, 19 May 2003 15:52:22 -0800

The History of the Internet as told, with a humourous touch, by The Lemon. "If anyone makes any overused Al Gore jokes they will be beaten unconscious with a 300 baud modem."

youhas — Fri, 26 Jul 2002 02:54:36 -0800

Behind The Typeface Presents: Cooper Black. The gripping saga of one typeface's trials and tribulations, following its path from the dizzying heights of stardom to the brink of self-destruction and back again. (Flash 5, approx. 3MB.)

beagle — Thu, 25 Oct 2001 05:48:18 -0800

Prototype mechanical soldier tried out in WWI! Your challenge on this site is to separate fact from fiction.

EricBrooksDotCom — Sun, 25 Jun 2000 09:20:19 -0800

To those who say our
Founding Fathers Couldn't get down with their bad selves...
Peep Washington, Jefferson and da rest of da boyz in an Independence Day Rap. Click on each founding father to let them throw down some phat lyrics too. (Flash required, yo!)