In-joke
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An in-joke (also known as an in joke or inside joke) is a joke whose humor is clear only to those people who are "inside" a social group or occupation. They may be colloquially referred to as "You had to have been there to think it's funny" moments. It is only humorous to those who know the situation behind it. Inside jokes may exist within a small social clique, such as a group of high school friends, or they may extend to an entire profession (e.g., inside jokes in the film industry).
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[edit] Role
An inside joke works to build community, at the expense of outsiders. Part of the power of an inside joke is that its audience knows that there are those who do not understand the joke.[1] Inside jokes are cryptic allusions to shared common ground that act as triggers. Only those who have shared the common ground provide an appropriate response.[2]An inside joke can be a subtext, where someone will suddenly start laughing at something that is unspoken (usually to apologize for doing so, stating that what they were laughing at was an inside joke).[3]
[edit] Types
[edit] Computer industry
In the computer industry, computer programmers hide "in jokes" within the code of software in the form of "easter eggs", which are hidden content that can be revealed by following a sequence of inputs.
The Jargon File is a dictionary of programmers' slang, many of which are inside jokes or based on inside jokes.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Paul Brooks Duff (2001). Who Rides the Beast?: Prophetic Rivalry and the Rhetoric of Crisis in the Churches of the Apocalypse. Oxford University Press, 81. ISBN 019513835X.
- ^ Randy Y. Hirokawa and Marshall Scott Poole (1996). Communication and Group Decision Making. Sage Publications Inc, 96. ISBN 076190462X.
- ^ Ben Tousey (2003). Acting Your Dreams: Use Acting Techniques to Interpret Your Dreams. Ben Tousey, 118–119. ISBN 1414005423.
