Comment by akeruu
6 years ago
Yes, this story gets posted a lot, and many of us might know it, but at the same time, I like to think about the ones that didn't. They will learn something new today. XKCD said it better than I could: https://xkcd.com/1053/
Genuine perennial favs are worth repeating every so often --- a year or two's interval seems reasonable, and is vouched by HN.
A marker of aging for me was seeing, a decade or two after I'd first read them in the local paper as a callow youth, repeats of previous features, by topic if not the actual text. Eventually the thought occurred to me that perhaps the versions I'd remembered were themselves not original.
People tell, and repeat, and embellish, stories. Sometimes because the young'uns and whippersnappers and new arrivals haven't heard them yet. Sometimes because they're just damned good stories and we enjoy the retelling.
Yes, I’ll continue upvoting this classic when it pops up in the years ahead.
I did. And it was not only informative but also hilarious.
One of the most endearing xkcd strips. A bit lightbulb moment when I figured this out in my life.