History’s most underrated keyboard shortcut is hilarious.
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As far as word editing tools go, I am a massive fan of the “strikethrough”. In almost every instance I’ve encountered a strikethrough on the internet, I’ve laughed.
To my dismay, I stumbled on this random Fast Company headline that says “THE STRIKETHROUGH JOKE IS THE LOWEST FORM OF HUMOR.”
Really, the humble strikethrough (eg. strikethrough) is low humour? 1 While I’ve occasioned to use the strikethrough here and there to score cheap laughs, I have heretofore never looked into how the strikethrough fits on the humour quality pyramid.
Here is the standard issue dry Wiki explanation:
“Strikethrough is a typographical presentation of words with a horizontal line through their center, resulting in:
text like this. Contrary to censored or sanitized (redacted) texts, the words remain readable…When used on a computer screen, however, it indicates recently deleted information. It can also be used deliberately to imply a change of thought (as in epanorthosis).”
So far, nothing too humorous. To summarize, the strikethrough can indicate 1) “recently deleted information” and 2) some wild thing called an “epanorthosis“:
“An epanorthosis is a figure of speech that signifies emphatic word replacement.’Thousands, no, millions!’ is a stock example [ED. In strikethrough form –>
thousandsmillions]. Epanorthosis as immediate and emphatic self-correction often follows a Freudian slip (either accidental or deliberate).”
Freudian slip, eh? I guess this could be funny.
What else? This Grammarly article says that:
”…the strikethrough is becoming the written equivalent of coughing and saying something at the same time, or mumbling something that you might not want to say out loud, but also wouldn’t mind for people to hear.”
Ah, 3) the ever-snarky “cough and say something under the breath” move, as exemplified by Val Kilmer (aka Iceman) in the 1980s classic Top Gun.
This is definitely high low humour.
With this bit of Iceman-inspiration, let’s see what we can spin up for strikethrough yolks jokes under the three aforementioned categories: 1) recently deleted information; 2) epanorthosis (emphatic word replacement); and 3) snarky cough and comment move.
1) Recently Deleted Information
Case #1: Contrast Principle
To spin low humour from “recently deleted information”, the previous information that is struck through should be starkly different from the new text that replaces it. The difference between the old and the new text can leverage the power of contrast to score an easy laugh.
Example A: I think I’m right about was definitely wrong about OJ.
Example B: The iPhone will never sell will be the best-selling consumer product ever.
Example C: I know there are whispers about Harvey Weinstein, but are we sure? We sure.
Case #2: Turn A Negative Into A Positive
Striking out “not” to turn a negative statement into a positive statement for a quick win.
Example A: You shall not commit adultery.
Example B: You shall not covet your neighbour’s…donkey
Case #3: One-Word Edit
A more general version of Case #2 is to just scrap any one word to completely change the meaning of something. Watch as I turn Die Hard from a one-man-against-the-world action series into a one-man-against-the-world erotica thriller series.
Example A:
Low. So so low.
2) Epanorthosis (Emphatic Word Replacement)
Case #1: Hype Man
In the Wiki article for epanorthosis, the canonical example given for an “emphatic word replacement” is the line from Bill Shakespeare’s Hamlet in which the word “seems” is replaced (emphatically, no doubt) with the more certain word “is”:
“Seems, madam! Nay, it is; I know not ‘seems.'” (Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2)
The strikethrough can be used to similar emphatic effect by either cranking up the certainty or enthusiasm of a statement.
Example A (“certainty”): I haven’t heard back from the doctor so I’m not sure if I definitely, without a question, unequivocally (and it hurts so much) have haemorrhoids.
Example B (“enthusiasm”): Man, that new Bieber track is pretty good is the pinnacle of mankind and I will now drink Clorox as we as a species no longer have any musical hurdles to overcome.
Case #2: Freudian Slip
Freudian slip jokes are actually probably the lowest form of humour imo.
Look, people mix words and ideas up all the time. You don’t have to be the smart-ass that blurts out “Freudian slip?” with a knowing look when someone accidentally says “my DICK is small” when we all know they mean “my DECK is small”.
Yes. Deck. It’s a deck you all-knowing prick. I have a deck. And it’s not huge. But it can fit one of those small BBQs with one of those small green propane tanks. Deck! With an “E”! 2
Example A: NO EXAMPLE. I support low humour but don’t agree with this will never ever ever agree with this unconscionable cheap shot of a joke.
3) Snarky Cough And Comment Move
Case #1: Cough Cough
This is very much just the print version of the Val Kilmer GIF previously cited. It is extremely low humour.
To do this move, you strategically insert a struckthrough “dickhead”, “idiot” or “bulls**t” somewhere in a sentence to get some snark across.
Example A: The bulls**t Republican tax bill passed on Wednesday.
Example B: Who’s the idiot dickhead person that subscribed to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Tidal on my credit card? Seriously, I only need one membership to listen to Leann Rimes.
Case #2: S**t List
This is probably the most used strikethrough joke I see on the interweb. As with the “Cough Cough”, the raison d’être of the “S**t List” is to rain vitriolic fire down on a subject.
Instead of one or two words, though, the “S**t List” goes full ad hominem by stringing together (and striking through) numerous statements.
Truly truly low. Funny AF, though.
Example A: Facebook that big-brother, zero accountability, probably spying on you right now and manipulating your brain cells to buy diet supplements you don’t need so its fatcat executives can buy 80k Teslas that clog our highways is revamping its newsfeed.
Example B: Kevin Durant is spineless, cowardly, has zero loyalty and is riding on the coattails of the greatest team ever to win a wholly undeserved ring resigning with the Golden State Warriors.
While the strikethrough can veer into some dark territory (“S**t List”), it’s mostly just for fun and games. You know what is not for fun and games? The much darker version of the strikethrough, the redaction: “In the context of government documents, redaction (also called sanitization) generally refers more specifically to the process of removing sensitive or classified information from a document prior to its publication, during declassification.” Firstly, to be clear, when text is redacted, it is completely blacked out (vs. being crossed out but still legible after a strikethrough). Secondly, redaction’s alias is “sanitization”. That’s a terrifying euphemism. Thirdly, I love how redacted texts are meant to be “declassified” for “publication”. Have you seen some of these so-called de-classified Here’s a sample from the famous Vietnam War-era Pentagon Papers (LOL!): Hahahahaha – what is anyone supposed to do with this? 3 Thankfully, there is at least one non-evil soul out there who has put redactions to a charitable use. An author named Austin Kleon practices the art of Blackout Poetry, whereby you take a newspaper article and blackout (redact) text with a marker to leave a “poem”. This one below is called “Opting Out”. Pretty cool. Mr. Kleon also wrote a book called Steal Like An Artist. Which is exactly what I’m going to do. Hey Austin, I got a poem for you. It’s called “take plot descriptions for classic novels and strikethrough words to make them about that party life”. 1. The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald 2. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway 3. 1984 by George Orwell Winston Smith 4. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift Gulliver has an itch REDACTION: The Strikethrough’s
Dickless Evil Cousinnothingburgers redacted texts.
“Quintessential Jazz age story? Or just looking for a good time?”
The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “ gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.
“Quintessential Lost Generation story? Or just looking for a good time?”
A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway’s most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions.
“Quintessential dystopian future? Or just looking for a good time?”toes the Party line, rewriting history to satisfy the demands of the Ministry of Truth. With each lie he writes, Winston grows to hate the Party that seeks power for its own sake and persecutes those who dare to commit thoughtcrimes. But as he starts to think for himself, Winston can’t escape the fact that Big Brother is always watching...
“Quintessential critique of the Enlightenment? Or a guy that HAD a good time and just got bad news from the clinic.”to travel around the world, but whenever he steps on a ship, bad luck seems to find him. He is shipwrecked, abandoned, marooned, and mutinied against, and each time lands in a strange and curious place. First he discovers the kingdom of the six-inch-tall Lilliputians, then the country of the giant Brobdingnagians, then the island of the academic Laputans, which floats in the sky, and finally the noble realm of the horselike Houyhnhnms. Who knew there were so many unusual creatures under the sun?