Friday, January 29, 2010

#56

This princess loves the quirky little things in life, especially the ones that make her brain go "hmm". Last year she logged onto Google on 09/09/09 and at 0909 military time (9:09 a.m. for you civilians). Under the Google logo, she saw 09/09/09 on the left and 09:09:09 on the right. All these nines add up to 54 and 5+4=9! Hmmm......



The Google search engine reveals a plenitude of possible meanings and symbolism of the number nine among which many humans can derive a perspective that brings meaning to their lives. If one has a suspicious perspective, any number of conspiracy theories could be found. On an inspirational note, different religions and life philosophies have different attributes for the number 9.


So what does all this have to do with humor? Nothing, really.

Or is there something? Can the number 9 really be funny? Do human demographics such as age, gender, etc. matter in the number 9 humor mix?


Concerning age, this princess was six years old when she thought the chef on Sesame Street who loudly and musically announced the number of pastries he made before tumbling down the stairs noisily with said pastries and clanging plates or a platter flying was quite hilarious. Wait, she still thinks that's funny.


So 9 splattering coconut cream pies is funny. Granted, coconut cream pies were attached, but it's something, and age didn't seem to matter. Granted again, the sample size is small. Oh yeah, we're talking humor not science and the two are generally mutually exclusive unless you're Bill Nye the Science Guy. The princess digresses....


The only gender factor with humor and the number 9 is that most women think men have the sense of humor of a nine year old boy. At least that's what Doug Colligan writes in this Reader's Digest article, "Why Women and Men Laugh Out Loud" (http://www.rd.com/content/printContent.do?contentId=44329&KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=500&width=790&modal=true). Yes, he cites some scientific studies so maybe humor and science aren't so mutually exclusive after all. Again the princess digresses...


9 pickles sounds funny, but then again aren't 6 pickles just as funny, maybe funnier? 9 Englebert Humperdincks are definitely funnier than 1 Englebert Humperdinck.


Thus, in addition to making a princess go "hmm" the number nine can be funny. Albeit, it's tied to slapstick, coconut cream pies, the maturity of the male sense of humor, pickles, and Englebert Humperdinck, but, hey, it's better than nothing. Nothing reminds one of zero. Hmmm, is zero funny?