Comments on: BYU student swipes old jokes; Eric half-heartedly responds

By: Shumway

Shumway — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 18:07:04 +0000

I wonder why The Daily Universe didn’t print that letter? Oh yeah, because you have to pay for advertising, no matter how cleverly disguised as a letter to the editor (not very in this case).

By: Andrew D

Andrew D — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 17:56:01 +0000

I listened to the Dating 9-1-1 tape a couple of times, but I don’t remember any reference to the joke. It seems like it would have been out of context anyway, since the overall point was to give good dating advice. It was somewhat funny and insightful, but I think I’d groan at the gags now. Consider the following dialogue between John (the Dating 9-1-1 show host) and the mobile date tech, whatever his name was (may not be verbatim):
“John, can I be frank?”
“No, you were Frank last time.”
“What’s that?”
“Sorry; go ahead.”

I’m offended that jokes like that used to make me laugh. I owe myself an apology.

By: David

David — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 17:48:03 +0000

So Brandon, you’re saying that if you had written a joke that was in a very popular column, and then someone used that joke later, you wouldn’t “jump to the conclusion” that he had stolen it from you? YOUR first reaction would be, “Oh, he must have come up with that identical joke on his own, or else maybe stolen it from somebody other than me?” I think Eric’s response of assuming the identical joke had been stolen from him is pretty reasonable and is probably what anyone’s reaction would be.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 07:14:08 +0000

I guess my main point here is that we don’t know for sure that this kid stole Eric’s joke. Maybe Eric should be less quick to jump to conclusions.

By: Momma Snider

Momma Snider — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 19:41:48 +0000

Funny thing about funny things: if something’s funny, chances are more than one person has thought it or said it, without stealing from each other.

And the shocked and appalled reaction to something said as a joke is almost always even funnier than the joke itself. But I’ll bet old Hyrum would be shocked and appalled to find out we’re laughing at him.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 09:59:25 +0000

I’m not saying Eric stole the joke from Bytheway… I’m just saying that if there is a similar joke on one of Bytheway’s tapes, that doesn’t automatically mean he stole it from Eric.

By: Reeder

Reeder — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 05:53:00 +0000

Actually, I remember when I first read the column in question, the $20 date joke did sound kind of familiar, like something off of a Disney movie of the week in 1987 or so. I’m sure the idea was original, though, and I could be completely off on that idea.

By: ClobberGirl

ClobberGirl — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 23:06:48 +0000

“Any chance he gets to rip on BYU, he does so. There is very little actual thought behind it.”Hmm… kind of like BYU’s evangelical Christian club.

But now I’m just being a brat.

By: Eric D. Snider

Eric D. Snider — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:56:15 +0000

You mustn’t take Jason Wright seriously when he rips on BYU, ClobberGirl. He grew up in Provo, and all kids who grow up in Provo go one of two ways: They enthusiastically, fervently love BYU, or they vigorously, irrationally hate it. Jason chose the latter. Any chance he gets to rip on BYU, he does so. There is very little actual thought behind it. He no more genuinely believes BYU is a cesspool of poor ethics (or that this is a prime example of it) than anyone genuinely believes it takes four Polacks to screw in a lightbulb.

By: ClobberGirl

ClobberGirl — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:47:34 +0000

I’ve never sat through an entire John Bytheway talk or tape, so I certainly haven’t heard him make the joke at all, which is why there’s a lot of qualifications in what I said. If he actually did rip the joke (and that’s a big “if”), I really can’t imagine it was intentional, and the same might be said for Mr. Harmon. It’s pretty easy to hear something funny somewhere and reuse it without being able to recall where you got it from.

BYU has the same trouble with “ethics” as any conservative religious college. They set high standards for their students and staff, inevitably someone doesn’t keep those standards in a public manner, people attack the institution for it. IMO, someone pushing a minor plagiarism through an editorial in the student paper isn’t much of a death throe for BYU’s ethics claims.