[2014-10-30] Jack Sprat, wife, and child
- Sanjay
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[2014-10-30] Jack Sprat, wife, and child
The Comic
I like this joke but I can't help shake feeling bothered about the third line. Establishing that the two traits are autosomal dominant seems kind of... irrelevant? It's certainly not the only way this kind of inheritance could have happened. I mean, pretty much as long as the two traits weren't both because of spontaneous autosomal mutations (or worse, non-genetic influences), the traits could be inherited.
I suppose it gets you thinking "oh, let's think about genetic inheritance now" for the punchline, but, I don't know.
I just wonder whether a better line would have been something like "both traits were genetically determined" or something.
I like this joke but I can't help shake feeling bothered about the third line. Establishing that the two traits are autosomal dominant seems kind of... irrelevant? It's certainly not the only way this kind of inheritance could have happened. I mean, pretty much as long as the two traits weren't both because of spontaneous autosomal mutations (or worse, non-genetic influences), the traits could be inherited.
I suppose it gets you thinking "oh, let's think about genetic inheritance now" for the punchline, but, I don't know.
I just wonder whether a better line would have been something like "both traits were genetically determined" or something.
Last edited by Sanjay on Thu Oct 30, 2014 4:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Jack Sprat, wife, and child
I agree that it gets you thinking about genes without saying the word, which I think would have spoiled the punchline.
Continual disappointment is the spice of life.
Re: Jack Sprat, wife, and child
The worst part about this comic is that we will never know for sure if Jack Sprat's wife is named Jeanne.
Re: [2014-10-30] Jack Sprat, wife, and child
Is it sad that the first thing that went through my head after reading "Jack Sprat could eat no fat" was "So he divorced her?"
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A big nod to Zack for the reference!
- Edminster
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Re: [2014-10-30] Jack Sprat, wife, and child
oh my god could you seriously not wait five minutes for me to activate your account?
ol qwerty bastard wrote:bitcoin is backed by math, and math is intrinsically perfect and logically consistent always
gödel stop spreading fud
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Re: [2014-10-30] Jack Sprat, wife, and child
That Ender, that's his game.
Destructicus wrote: Alt text:
"I wonder if chemists feel bad that they're always left out of these sorts of jokes."
Since when is chemistry not a science?
- GUTCHUCKER
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Re: [2014-10-30] Jack Sprat, wife, and child
Stop bugging him, you bugger.
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Re: [2014-10-30] Jack Sprat, wife, and child
We assume that the child doesn't inherit the SAME mutation from each parent, so he's heterozygous. If the traits were recessive, he wouldn't express either trait; since they're dominant, he expresses both.
Just because a trait is genetically determined doesn't mean that the child will express it. That 3rd line's pretty important; without it, the punchline would be sketchy as hell because of my previous sentence. We need to know if the mutant alleles are recessive or dominant.
Just because a trait is genetically determined doesn't mean that the child will express it. That 3rd line's pretty important; without it, the punchline would be sketchy as hell because of my previous sentence. We need to know if the mutant alleles are recessive or dominant.
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Re: [2014-10-30] Jack Sprat, wife, and child
I don't think it is your sentence that would make the punchline "sketchy as hell".la wrote:We assume that the child doesn't inherit the SAME mutation from each parent, so he's heterozygous. If the traits were recessive, he wouldn't express either trait; since they're dominant, he expresses both.
Just because a trait is genetically determined doesn't mean that the child will express it. That 3rd line's pretty important; without it, the punchline would be sketchy as hell because of my previous sentence. We need to know if the mutant alleles are recessive or dominant.
- Sanjay
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Re: [2014-10-30] Jack Sprat, wife, and child
I think you are more or less right, La, if we assume that these are Mendelian traits.
I mean, I suppose this is fine.
I mean, I suppose.
I suppose.
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
I really like Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal QUITE A BIT, FWIW.
I mean, I suppose this is fine.
I mean, I suppose.
I suppose.
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
I really like Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal QUITE A BIT, FWIW.
When the going gets tough, the tough get lonely sometimes.
Re: [2014-10-30] Jack Sprat, wife, and child
Are you disagreeing on a matter of substance or simply complaining that he wrote "because of my last sentence" rather than "because of what I wrote in my last sentence"?Lethal Interjection wrote:I don't think it is your sentence that would make the punchline "sketchy as hell".la wrote:We assume that the child doesn't inherit the SAME mutation from each parent, so he's heterozygous. If the traits were recessive, he wouldn't express either trait; since they're dominant, he expresses both.
Just because a trait is genetically determined doesn't mean that the child will express it. That 3rd line's pretty important; without it, the punchline would be sketchy as hell because of my previous sentence. We need to know if the mutant alleles are recessive or dominant.
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Re: [2014-10-30] Jack Sprat, wife, and child
A matter of substance, in the latest comic discussion?
Hahahahahahahahahaha.
Hahahahahahahahahaha.
Datanazush wrote:I ship Mohammed and Jehova.
Re: [2014-10-30] Jack Sprat, wife, and child
"both traits were genetically determined" is farther from alternating syllable stress. I think he was going for iambic trimeter (lines 1, 2, and 4) and made 3 longer to draw attention to it and have the timing feel more like a limerick. It's not as impressive or obvious as rhyming jokes have been in the past, but gets the job done.