Words that End in GRY
Words that End in GRY
[Black Hat and Cueball are standing next to each other.] Cueball: There are three words in the English language that end in "gry". "Angry" and "Hungry" are two. What's the third?
Black Hat: I don't think there is one, unless you count really obscure words. Cueball: Ha! It's "language"! I said there are three words in "the English--" Hey! GRAB [Black Hat grabs Cueball's hand, with a knife in hand.]
Cueball: What th--AAAAAAAAAA SLICE [Black Hat slices off Cueball's hand with the knife.]
[Cueball is bleeding profusely.] Black Hat: Ok, listen carefully. Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Black Hat: Communicating badly and then acting smug when you're misunderstood is not cleverness. Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Black Hat: I hope we've learned something today. Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Around the time this comic was posted, Randall also posted Blue Eyes : The Hardest Logic Puzzle in the World. He apparently took his own advice to heart as he explicitly states he has gone over the wording of the puzzle several times before publishing it to make it as unambiguous as possible.

This is a reference to a famous joke (see the first of the meta versions under the wiki link), mistold in the above comic.
The original, correct telling of the joke is:
Think of words ending in "-gry". "Angry" and "Hungry" are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? Hint: The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is.
Phrased this way, the answer is "language" because "There are only three words in (the phrase) 'the English language' ."
Cueball tells this joke (unfortunately by mis-phrasing the original riddle). When Cueball attempts to say the answer is "language" and act smugly about it, Black Hat is unimpressed and cuts off Cueball's forearm, explaining that communicating badly is not the same as cleverness. Black Hat's point is that the riddle's "cleverness" depends on misleadingly implying that "three words" refers to words ending in "-gry," rather than the phrase "the English language." Black Hat does not seem to agree that this riddle is clever.
In the title text, Randall clarifies that his point about bad communication applies to the riddle in general. [1] However, a secondary interpretation is that Black Hat is angry that Cueball botched the joke. The joke is supposed to go, "There are only three words in 'the English language,'" while only implying that you meant "words that end in '-gry.'" By instead saying, "There are three words in the English language that end in '-gry,'" Cueball has ruined any chance of Black Hat determining the correct answer; now, "three words" can't refer to the correct answer "the English language" because Cueball has accidentally used a longer phrase instead. Thus, Cueball has communicated badly both intentionally and unintentionally.
In any case, no matter how annoying Cueball's smugness, Black Hat responding by cutting off Cueball's forearm is a comical overreaction [ citation needed ] (while his calm demeanor in doing so is a comical underreaction to the overreaction). Additionally, his calmly-made point about the riddle is likely not to be understood by Cueball, who can only focus on his debilitating injury. Black Hat has, ironically, failed to communicate his point about proper communication, although given Black Hat's personality he likely doesn't care, and may even have intended the irony.
As Black Hat mentioned in the comic, if you count obscure and archaic words, there are additional English words that end with "-gry." Some are listed here .
The title text refers to postmodernism , a philosophy and corresponding art movement. Postmodern music is often minimalist , as exemplified by the weird sounds of Philip Glass and Steve Reich , and postmodern visual art saw trends such as lowbrow and installation art gain attention. Apart from a rejection of modernism, however, it is difficult to outline postmodernism to justify the strange works of art. Deconstruction is another important concept, but it is difficult to describe the process. In short, postmodernists make art that no one understands and may act smugly about it, but they do not adequately explain what their art means, or it doesn't really mean anything. In other words, there is nothing to understand. Thus, Black Hat's statement, that such practice is not "cleverness," applies to them as well.
[Black Hat and Cueball are standing next to each other.] Cueball: There are three words in the English language that end in "gry". "Angry" and "Hungry" are two. What's the third?
Black Hat: I don't think there is one, unless you count really obscure words. Cueball: Ha! It's "language"! I said there are three words in "the English--" Hey! GRAB [Black Hat grabs Cueball's hand, with a knife in hand.]
Cueball: What th--AAAAAAAAAA SLICE [Black Hat slices off Cueball's hand with the knife.]
[Cueball is bleeding profusely.] Black Hat: Ok, listen carefully. Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Black Hat: Communicating badly and then acting smug when you're misunderstood is not cleverness. Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Black Hat: I hope we've learned something today. Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Around the time this comic was posted, Randall also posted Blue Eyes : The Hardest Logic Puzzle in the World. He apparently took his own advice to heart as he explicitly states he has gone over the wording of the puzzle several times before publishing it to make it as unambiguous as possible.
