☆NihonJack⇔日本ジャック☆コミュのYale Prom joke question

Hmm....I know they say it's boring to explain a joke.

Sometimes I get these Quote of the day things...but I don't understand it sometimes.

Well, never really bothered me until today. Not that it particularly bothers me today anyways, but you know, the thirst for knowledge overcame my laziness.

So here it is:

If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn't be a bit surprised.
- Dorothy Parker

I don't get the joke. Why is that?
...

So the literal meaning means, to the person who said this: It is quite normal if all the girls at the prom end up sleeping with someone. (check)

So?

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Another question I have was in my own conversation with a friend. I felt that it's right, but I'm not sure...it has to do with rejecting a "must" sentence.

A: You must do your homework. Otherwise you'll get expelled.

B: No, I don't. I got special connections.

Well, if B says "I must not", then the meaning would be wrong, right? but is it ok to say "No, I don't" to a "You must..." sentence?

Thanks!

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[1] mixiユーザー 06月14日 03:59

The expected ending to a statement that starts "If all the <something> were laid end to end" is "they would reach <some absurb distance>", so the listener's expectations are jarred by the "I wouldn't be a bit surprised" and he has to reevaluate the preceding clause, with the new awareness that Mrs. Parker is talking about sex. With that awareness, the new parsing is not "all the girls lay down head to foot", but "all the girls have sex from the beginning of the prom to its end"

In regards to your second question, the "No, I don't" seems perfectly natural to me.

[2] mixiユーザー 06月14日 03:59

Well, I research "Dorothy Parker" and "Prom" through the Internet, but I couldn't find the clue to make a joke.

at the 2nd question, if I asked a same question, I would say "No. I don't have to."
So, I think it's Ok because "B" leaves out "have to."

I'm not native speaker so don't trust what I say completely

[3] mixiユーザー 06月14日 10:38

Well in a way she was saying that the girls who go to the Yale prom will have sex with who they go with. While it might not seem like an insult or a joke, it is stating that Yale women are loose and will sleep with someone just because it is prom night.

As for the 2nd question

"No, I don't" is fine because it means "No, I don't have to study because I have special connections."

Also "No, I won't" would be ok too because it would mean "No, I won't get expelled because I have special connections."

[4] mixiユーザー 06月14日 16:19

Too tough to follow you.

How smart you are!

[5] mixiユーザー 06月14日 17:43

Thanks, richvh and BlackAce,

I get these Quote of the day things in my email.....so sometimes they do lack context for complete understanding.

Yeah...it's just a quote without much context.
It's also on this page http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0662213/bio
Dorothy Parker's biography. (frankly I have no idea who she really is....)

I like richvh's deep analysis of the sentence. You have very good imagination and creativity =) I never thought that far =)

And thanks for BlackAce's interpretation of that sentence, too. Hmm...I hope the Yale girls are really loose. haha. Havne't met any in my life though.

Yeah, I kinda felt that the second example "You must" "I don't" sounds ok, too....but when I really thought about it, I became uncertain. Thanks for your confirmation!

[6] mixiユーザー 06月15日 13:46

Dorothy Parker was an American poet and short story author. She wrote with a very cynical view on life. Her dark outlook on life and black humor are definitely one of the main reasons she became so known. One of her more famous quotes would be "Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses" which is still quoted to this day, though it is doubtful many people know where it originated from. As for the joke, she is implying that Yale girls enjoy anal sex. End to end being both the front and back end.

For the other question, yes, don't can work simply because the second person is replying that -No, she doesn't have to do the homework-. Must not would actually sound a little clumsy because "I must not" would imply if they did the homework, they would get in trouble for it.

[7] mixiユーザー 06月16日 05:38

Wow, さすがVoodoo Dummy.
Your insight gave me a brand new view on Yale girls now...I see, "end to end", eh? =) That does make a lot of sense, too.
勉強になりました。

Yeah, I read that quote, too, that "Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses". Haven't read any of Parker's work though....just a couple of those quotes from the internet.

[8] mixiユーザー 06月17日 03:20

Ooh, you really should :D If you can find it, The "Portable Dorothy Parker" is perfect. It was actually what began my love affair with her and Sylvia Plath.

[9] mixiユーザー 06月21日 13:01

Yeah, jokes are a bit tough to follow because they really on stereotypes.

In grade school, I don't know how many times I heard things like:
If you laid all of the neurons in your body end to end, they would be longer than (some very long object).
Since these types of comparisons get the attention of students, I think people like to use them.

Next, you have to know that the stereotypical thing that happens on propm night is that people have sex.

Next, you have to know that slang for having sex is getting laid.

Well, getting jokes in a foreign language is a tough thing because you not only have to understand the language perfectly, but also have the same mindset so that your brain gets a bit derailed in the process.

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