Re: Humor

[Matt Ion <soundy -at- NEXTLEVEL -dot- COM>]

On Wed, 22 May 1996 09:05:00 PDT, Martyn Thirlway wrote:

>>ENGAGE
>>        What it does:   Nothing, but it makes you feel like the Captain.
>>        Syntax:         ENGAGE
>>        Who can use it: Picard
>>        BS:             Yes.
>>
>Fine, except that you cannot even know that your target
>audience has ever heard of Star Trek, let alone seen it (I
>assume it is a reference to Star Trek - personally I am not a
>fan) Then it just becomes confusing, and certainly not amusing

You also cannot assume that everyone in said audience will "get" the
references to M*A*S*H, Mission: Impossible, or any of the other
TV/radio shows, movies, or other such references used.  I think it's a
safe bet, though, that most of these (particularly M*A*S*H and Star
Trek) are deeply-engrained enough in North American (and to some
degree, world-wide) culture as to keep the "unkowing" to a minimum...
at least 95% of North Americans should recognize the source of the
references, if not the specific referece.

Besides, the chance of alienating as many as 30% of the target audience
doesn't seem to concern most people designing "Netscape-enhanced" web
pages...



 Your friend and mine,
 Matt
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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