I wish that these kind of lists would include words like "probably"...

This is kind of a pet peeve of mine, but for some reason it annoys me that people who write online lists will often assume things about the readers based on their titles. I'm mostly talking about lists of things like "10 Jokes, in Children's Movies You Never Got as a Kid" or whatever - whenever I read lists like that, I actually got most of the jokes as a kid, so it kind of grates on me. Some of the jokes aren't even "of adult humor", there just references to movies that pre-date the movie in question. I still got them though,

I feel that it's kind of an arrogance thing; we as adults do not want to admit that children have some level of intelligence so we act like we didn't understand things as kids, when we did? Is that what this is all about, or is it something else?

The same applies to when people look at children's shows around now and point out the things that are "Clearly for adults", when, like I said, I remember getting certain jokes as a kid. I feel like it's just some silly meme or something that I'm not getting.

Some of them are almost impossible not to get, regardless of age; for example, someone did a list of "Simpsons Jokes You Didn't Get as a Kid", and one of them was when a young Homer thought that two monkeys were killing each other, and was told they were actually having sex - the article writer made out that the "They're having sex" line was a big secret, but it is actually said very audibly.

So, if this isn't meant to be some ego trip we're all on to make us look better than kids, by acting like it's impossible to get certain jokes, and references until a certain age, and the people who wrote these articles really didn't get these as a kid, then I would much prefer that they would title them as "10 Jokes, in Children's Movies You Probably Never Got as a Kid" or even "10 Jokes, in Children's Movies I Never Got as a Kid" so it's literally the writer's own opinion, which is what it is.

Sorry for the rant, it's just been annoying me for a long time. Even though I do enjoy reading these kinds of lists.

So... I'm the only one bothered by this?

Probably.

MJN SEIFER, I love you so much.

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Originally Posted by Old Manus

MJN SEIFER, I probably love you so much.

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fixed this to conform to OP's standards for you

So, why is it that it only affects me? I'd actually like to know why I'm the only one who doesn't by into the fact that we should assume that kids are stupid, and ignore the fact we weren't stupid as kids go with it.

Is it a meme? No more "probably" jokes (no offense, I can take a joke, but not when I really want to know the answer) why do we do it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MJN SEIFER

So, why is it that it only affects me? I'd actually like to know why I'm the only one who doesn't by into the fact that we should assume that kids are stupid, and ignore the fact we weren't stupid as kids go with it.

Is it a meme? No more "probably" jokes (no offense, I can take a joke, but not when I really want to know the answer) why do we do it?

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Well, for one thing, because usually, those lists don't apply to me anyway.

Take the Simpsons one you listed. I almost never watch the show (I've seen like 5 episodes in my entire life). So, while I may think "y'know, I probably would have gotten that", I don't have any real evidence to compare.

But when it does apply, I just don't care. I mean, why should I? So the person making the list was a complete moron at the time they were a kid. That doesn't really bother me. I'd just stop paying reading the list and ignore whoever wrote it.

I really don't understand letting yourself get bothered by something like this. What does it matter? It's a list someone made for fun. It's stupid. There are literally thousands, if not millions, of videos on YouTube that fit both of those criteria. Don't let it bug you, just ignore it and move on.

Do you really want an actual answer? Oh, go on then you adorable ragamuffin. You've made me smile so I want to help you. :love:

Two reasons. First of all, it's always good to be brief when writing article titles because people have short attention spans and there are a lot of different articles they could read. The title may have had the word "probably" in it originally, but words like that can be stripped out as unnecessary. Secondly, to try to grab the reader. Something that does apply to you is more likely to make you read it than something than something that probably applies to you.

To to summarise, literary device, my friend. Hope that helps. Keep on truckin'.

To Skyblade and Psychotic; Thank you for your answerws they are both well written, and they add perspective. I apreciate them, and will try not to let the whole list thing annoy me anymore.

Sorry I got a bit rant-y about it. I guess it's always been a thing that got to me, people assuming or something, but thanks.