So what's the point here? That he gets a car that gets bad mileage but pretends it's a car that gets good mileage? That he further cements his reputation as a thoroughly inverted individual by insisting that, to the contrary, the hybrid vehicle is the one with poorer gas mileage? So? This doesn't really strike me as very funny. It doesn't make me angry, like some bad comics do, but it's basically "Item A1 has quality B1, while Item A2 has quality B2. However, I pretend that A1 and B2 are paired, and also that A2 and B1 are paired! Is funny joke, no?"Also the inner hypercapitalist in me says that the owners of an SUV will "go green" precisely when the price of gasoline is so high that it is in their interest to switch; until then they are content to pay the price of gas. Hybrid owners pay in other ways (for example, they can probably drive in fewer off-road or extreme weather conditions). In other words, the owner of a more efficient car should not mock the owner of a less efficient car simply because they each made different choices in the free market, choices which they are presumably both happy with (by virtue of the fact that they have yet to buy new cars.) Don't worry, the inner socialist in me beats up the inner hypercapitalist in me on a regular basis.
My favorite use of the "bait n' switch" is here: http://xkcd.com/16/
ReplyDeleteEspecially since it's a case in which people are already parroting for humorous intent, and confounding their ways could lead to better and more original jokes in the future.
Calling a Prius inefficient while driving an SUV? Why not drink soda in front of people using water bottles?
Or better yet, comment less funny comics on Munroe's forum and congratulate him on being SO different!
This "joke" is so easy to construct.
ReplyDelete1. MY HOBBY - Buying decaf coffee: "I just need something to wake me up."
2. MY HOBBY - Ordering a meat-lovers pizza: "There's no bell peppers on this, are there? I'm a vegetarian."
There's nothing particularly wrong with a joke that's easy to think of variants on, I just don't think this one is all that funny. I find your pizza joke better. I can easily imagine "My Hobby - Pissing Off Waiters" with that text, and liking it more than I liked this comic.
ReplyDeleteHybrid cars are actually notoriously hard on the juice. They're poorly optimised for proper driving; that is, not accelerating at such a slow pace that you'd be overtaken by glaciers.
ReplyDeletethat and cars like the Prius require certain parts for repair and maintenance, parts that are only made by Toyota and cost you an arm and leg because you decided to buy the Prius to look pro-green in front of your buddies who are all driving big Escalades and Hummers (ugly as fuck civy side, Humvees actually look cool).
ReplyDeleteOf course since cars like the Prius were designed in other countries with differing climates, they may not work well in other countries (Hybrids don't work that well in Canada since they haven't been functionally climatized for our harsh winters) but maybe I'm looking too much into this comic, I just view it as the SUV guy is trolling hybrid owners, and somehow succeeding o_0
... and a Prius consumes more energy to produce than a hummer consumes in it's lifetime. But, as was said, in a free market everyone's choice is their choice. Just don't act like you're better than anyone else.
ReplyDelete...and my inner capitalist beats up my inner socialist.
...meh, too easy.
ReplyDelete