Leave a silly moment alone (PLUS A BONUS: Gov't theft!)

The nice thing about a single-panel strip like "Rubes" is that, when Leigh Rubin gives in to the temptation to do a really stupid pun, he doesn't have any space to tread on it by having characters "react."

I can't tell you how many times I reject a strip for CSOTD because the cartoonist dulled a really good punchline with reactions. It builds to a funny, silly punchline and then, in the final panel, the characters essentially apologize for the gag.

Dude, if you're sorry you wrote it, tear it up and do something you aren't ashamed of.

And there's no reason to be ashamed of a silly pun. Puns require the brain to abruptly switch directions and that bothers some people. And some people hate to be tickled. Some people hate rollercoasters. While you can amuse some of the people all of the time, that leaves another group of some of the people that you can't amuse any of the time. 

There's an old saying about people who can't take a joke.

There's also an old saying among sales people that you reach a point where "Whoever speaks next loses." You put an offer on the table and then you shut up. Shut up. Don't talk. Don't add to it, don't explain it, don't modify it. Shut up. The person across the table will likely break the tension by speaking, and the only thing they can say that doesn't involve accepting at least part of your offer is "I see we have nothing to talk about."

They won't say that. By the time you've put a concrete offer on the table, you're too far along into the process for anyone to just walk away.

The same thing works in interviewing. You ask the vice president of the bank, "The auditors say a quarter of a million dollars is missing. How could that happen?" And then you shut up, despite the tension that fills the room. Eventually, he's going to say something. And, if there's nothing he can say on his own behalf, he's either going to cave or he's going to say something so stupid that he indicts himself. Most likely the latter, but you never know.

And when you make a stupid joke like "spoiled brats," the same thing applies: Just lay the gag on the table and shut up. Don't undercut your own position. Just shut up. If it takes a minute, that's okay. Let the tension build, because that's how funny works. 

(Now that you've been told this important principle of humor, you must promise to use it only for good.)

And now for something completely not funny:

A follow-up to an earlier post about the USDA's new "My Plate," which, of course isn't actually "My" plate at all. 

Apparently, it isn't the USDA's plate either.

This article in Slate noted that the USDA's graphics aren't particularly groundbreaking, but stopped short of accusing them of a copyright violation. I'm not sure why. It sure looks like outright theft to me.

Note that protein, while never purple in real life, is purple both in the USDA's plate and on the copyrighted kids' plate sold by a private company, Nutri-Plate. And, though the government no longer acknowleges oils and fats as a factor in diet, they do think that "dairy products" -- which, after all, are a source of dietary fat -- are round and blue. And "grains" on the Nutri-Plate are orange, like the grains on the USDA's plate. Veggies are predictably green; you can hardly fault them for that one.

The Nutri-Plate design has the advantage of being a coherent teaching tool, the idea being to make sure each of those foods only covers its own place on the plate. Okay, it won't work with spaghetti and meat sauce or a nice chicken cous-cous, but the principle is there. 

The USDA design doesn't really discuss proportions, and their graphics department, as we can plainly see, has no principles.

Graphic artists get ripped off enough these days, don't you think, without the government, keeper of copyrights and trademarks, leaping into the fray?

 

Comments

[Sherwood]

What *is* it with this administration and theft of material for use in food-related publications? http://www.flickr.com/photos/sherwoodh/5752914645/in/photostream

[Mike]

They're assuming copyright law works both ways: If a government agency produces a graphic, anyone can use it. Conversely, if anyone produces a graphic, a government agency can use it.

It's that clause in the Patriot Act that reads, "All your pic are belong to us!"

[bob]

Hey, I'm from the government. I can do anything I want to.

[Mary in Ohio]

One of my favorite authors, the late Tony Hillerman, was always emphasizing how his 2 Navajo policemen, Leaphorn and Chee, would ask questions and then shut up, usually making the suspect/opponent do exactly what they wanted them to do - blurt out something to fill the silence. I adopted this technique in teaching with middle grade kids, and since retiring have found it also works with The Public. "Do you do shoe repair?" "No." You can tell they want me to explain why we DON'T repair shoes (at a dry cleaner's), or to apologize for their being inconvenienced. But eventually they accept that answer. Though I get the impression that sometimes it's the first time anyone has said that word to them and meant it.

[Mike]

I don't think the Navajo cops have a corner on that one. The only reality show I watch is "First 48,"* and the need to compress things into an hour means they take out the part of the interrogation where they simply sit and stare at the guy and wait for him to start talking. But you can see hints of those missing segments. Of course, they'll also just walk out of the room when things are unproductive, and then stand around shooting the breeze for awhile while the guy stews in his own juices, before going back in and starting over again.

*(Okay, I also watch "Bully Beatdown," where shooting off your mouth and never shutting up is part of the strategy. But that's more of a guilty pleasure.)

[stephanie t]

thanks for pointing this out, and supporting 'the little guys'. i am the designer of the Nutri-plate (the plate on the RHS) and we actually showed our plate to Michelle Obama's team over a year prior to the MyPlate initiative launching. ... They told us that they couldn't support a private enterprise/product (though perhaps they can steal our design)!