In Jokes

With a strong community of posters to be found on Redbrick, it is inevitable that a number of in-jokes exist. Feel free to update and add to this list.

When adding a new in-joke, please keep the same format.

"Is this another one of those recursive wiki entries?"

Recursive threads are one of the greatest tools of the users of the Redbrick newsgroups - To destroy a thread, merely ask is the thread recursive. Most Redbrick in-jokes have recursion at the core - recursion is the new lowest form of wit.

Origin

Digital media is prone to easy duplication, and the Redbrick newsgroups are no different. Recursive (i.e. repeatitive) newsgroup threads have existed for as long as I can remember, however however originally wrote "Is this another one of those recursive threads?" should probably be locked up for crimes against humanity.

Added to list

14 Jun 2005

Finland has an Army?

Well someone asks a question on the boards and then someone will respond with "Finland has an army?". It sometimes changed to fit in the context of the thread, for example on a thread discussing this wiki, Doc suggested the topic Finland Has An Army.

Sometimes, someone will then ask, what is this "Finland has an Army?" shenanigans. This will prompt someone else to write a long description of the origin of the joke will then prompt someone else to reply with "Finland has an Army?"

This joke has taken on a life of its own. Some of members of Redbrick work in Google and they slipped in an ad to Google's ads: Redbrick has an Army? In February 2009, 21 members and associates of Redbrick travelled to Finland. It was noted by a few of the group that there were, in fact, a high number of soldiers in gear compared to Ireland. At the airport in Tampere, Redbrick members were treated to two F18 fighter jets taking off. Finland surely does have an army.

From: Disposable Teen <bosco@RedBrick.DCU.IE>
Newsgroups: redbrick.babble
Subject: Re: Internet addiction
Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2004 12:25:51 +0000 (UTC)


On Wed,  4 Aug 2004 Captain Olimar <myk@RedBrick.DCU.IE> wrote:
> From Ireland.com
>
> Helsinki: A number of Finnish conscripts have been excused their full
> term of military service because they are addicted to the Internet, the
> Finnish Defence Forces announced yesterday.
>
> Doctors found that the young men miss their computers too much to cope
> with their compulsory six months in the forces.
>
> "For people who play (Internet) games all night and don't have any
> friends, don't have any hobbies, to come into the army is a very big
> shock," said Commander-Captain Jyrki Kivela at the military conscription
> unit.
>
> "They get sent home for three years and after that they have to come
> back and we ask if they are okay ... they will have had time to grow
> up."
>
> "We are very proud of our Finnish men. Eighty-two per cent of all
> Finnish men manage their whole military service," Commander Kivela
> added.
>
>

Finland has an army?

Origin

Somebody posted a news story about people escaping Finland's conscription by being addicted to the internet. This made them unsuitable for military service.

Somebody followed up to this with "Finland has an army?". I don't think this was repeated too much, but the response, "They held back the Russians in World War 2" - and one million and five variants - was soon posted, by one million and size people eager to demonstrate their sexy historical knowledge. They were so eager, they didn't check to see if anybody else had posted something similar. After a while, people started posting it ironically, to demonstrate that people should check threads before posting.

Since then, "Finland has an army?" and "held back the russians in world war 2" in a response have come to mean "This has already been said". Constant reposting of the same answer in various slightly different (or implausibly identical) forms is a variant of this injoke - the Nebuchadnezzar joke below is an example. Likewise, expect the current topic to be incorporated: "Google has a Finland?" - "Held back the Matrix in world war 2".

Added to list

16 May 2005

The Nebuchadnezzar

Often used in response to obvious questions or lingustic related questions. Someone replies with a post saying "The name of the ship was the Nebuchadnezzar. It was the ship in the Matrix".

Origin

Spock started this one off. He asked a seemingly simple question. He wanted to know if anyone knew a word he had heard which he attempted to spell it phonetically. This provoked a huge amount of responses as people replied saying it was the Nebuchadnezzar. And so an in-joke was born.

Added to list

16 May 2005

FREE SHERRO!!!

Often said ironically by older members to indicate that they are being intentionally loud and/or obnoxious.

Origin

Sometime in 1997, a user named sherro was DisUsered for being an ass (as a lot of users were wont to be). This then caused a torrent of calls from his friends to re-enable his account. These took the form of the words 'FREE SHERRO!!!' in almost every form NewsGroups, emails to committee, spamming in ItchyNuts and such). It's been verified that the call was also scrawled as graffitti in some of DCUs toilets.

Since then, FREE SHERRO!!! has been used as a statement to indicate that the sayer is being ironically loud and obnoxious. Nobody younger then about 4th gen ever really gets this.

Added to list

23 June 2005

tbh

Stands for "to be honest". Gives a cheesy superiority to the person who says it. Usually said when trying to be authoritative about something, or when telling off someone for being stupid. e.g. "You suck tbh", "Gaming is deadly tbh".

Origin

Mid-late 2004, originated with zyox who overused it.

Added to list

23 June 2005

Cammy's Law

As any Redbrick discussion about religion or religion and science grows longer, the probability of a comparison to relativism approaches one.

Origin

See the article for more.

Added to list

28 March 2005

Batman Movies

A movie title, quote, plot summary or tag-line has the main character (or a some other element) replaced with Batman. Subsequent posters followup with more examples of "Batman Movies".

> > Batman sees dead people.
> 
> "Batman freaked out, joined the army... now he's a professional killer."

There's something about Batman.

Origin

It originated on the redbrick.movies board and went on for quite a bit. It resurfaced again in May 2006 on a discussion about what the longest thread on the boards and so it is now an official a Redbrick in-joke.

Added to list

10 May 2006

RESIIIIIIIII...GN

Origin

When robby was elected chair of RedBrick at the 2008 AGM, certain elected rootholders at the time began drunkenly hassling him in Fibbers. Legend has it that the cry "RESIIIIIGN" was said to have been uttered by lil_cain. It is now shouted at committee members when they do something wrong, or in an attempt to demotivate them.

Added to list

27 September 2009

Grand

Origin

Particularly associated with lithium and hauk, "grand" is a complex adjective that can be used to express any level of casual agreement from "ok" to "sure, why not?".

Frequently seen in #lobby, grand is most often used in conjunction with grand activities such as growing chilies or homebrewing, but can be adapted to banally express approval of almost anything. Statistics indicate that by the year 2013, the ever-increasing usage of "grand" will eliminate the need for all other mildly positive adjectives.

Added to list

14 April 2011