‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

The last time my family was replaced by technology

339 points · 641 comments · megalomanu

  1. delichon · · focus · HN ↗
    Back in the '70s my dad used to tell a joke about his dad. He said that my grandfather had a job that supported his whole large family while my dad was growing up. But unfortunately technology caught up with him, and he was replaced by a device just this big, and he held his fingers apart to demonstrate.

    Then he said the real disaster hit: "And then my mom got one."

    Grandma was there when he told it more than once, and thought it was hilarious.

    It usually came with another joke about the time he was caught with his pecker in the pickle slicer. He was fired, and so was the pickle slicer.

    In the seventies you were expected to tell jokes like that and allowed to laugh at them.

    1. someonebaggy · · focus · HN ↗
      It may be funny when it's a joke, not so when it's real.
      1. delichon · · focus · HN ↗
        My grandpa was a shoemaker. The real change in technology left his family in poverty in Chicago during the depression. I didn't hear anyone joke about that, directly.

        Jewish humor is frequently about laughing at your own pain. There's a genre of Jewish jokes created in concentration camps.

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.