• Almacca@aussie.zoneEnglish
    37·
    16 hours ago

    From Wikipedia:

    Kenneth Yuan-Ke Cheng is a British-Chinese former professional poker player and comedian. Cheng has won the 2017 Funniest Joke of the Fringe, and a 2023 BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Comedy. He additionally became popular on LinkedIn in 2024 for his satirical posts in which he poses as a CEO. In 2025, he won the ITV game show Genius Game.

    The Funniest Joke of the Fringe?

    I’m not a fan of the new pound coin, but then again, I hate all change.

    Not a lunatic.

        • Almacca@aussie.zoneEnglish
          8·
          16 hours ago

          I started reading Bill Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words last night, and apparently that phrase doesn’t mean what we think it means, although you may be using it correctly here.

          exception proves the rule, the. : A widely misunderstood expression. As a moment’s thought should confirm, it isn’t possible for an exception to confirm a rule — but then, that isn’t the sense that was originally intended. Prove here is a “fossil” — that is, a word or phrase that is now generally meaningless except within the confines of certain sayings ( hem and haw, rank and file , and to and fro are other fossil expressions). Originally prove meant test (it comes from the Latin probare , “to test”), so “the exception proves the rule” meant — and really still ought to mean — that the exception tests the rule. The original meaning of prove is preserved more clearly in two other expressions: proving ground and the proof of the pudding is in the eating

          Good book.

          • Sylvartas@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            6·
            16 hours ago

            Interesting, we have the same expression in french and it is also commonly misunderstood and has also been traced back to latin (“Exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis”) which was a law thing supposed to mean that the mention of an exception implies the existence of a rule. E.g “no parking on Sundays” implies you can park there the other days.

            • captcha@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyzEnglish
              1·
              3 hours ago

              This is what I heard about the English variant, too. I wonder if “prove = test” is grounded in research, or just folk etymology like “the mall = a place to visit them all” or “news = North East West South” (both are wrong, but the news is quite old and may have had influence on new becoming news)

          • ThePyroPython@lemmy.world
            3·
            16 hours ago

            That’s very interesting, I shall look into that book, thank you for the recommendation.

            I think that posting Ken screenshots to this community here kind of fits both meanings of that phrase because:

            1. You always get people in the comments questioning should Ken screenshots be posted here as he’s not an actual linkedin lunatic, but a satire of one.

            2. Ken screenshots are still allowed because if you didn’t detect the sarcasm and were as dense as some real people who are posted here, then you could mistake it for genuine lunacy. Therefore he’s the single exception of satirical posts amongst a sea of real ones.

  • Dinglefluff@piefed.socialEnglish
    18·
    1 day ago

    These kids nowadays too lazy to bend spacetime. Back in my day we only had wormholes the size of a nickel and we were happy about it.