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, User: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?
Origin
Somebody posted a news story about people escaping Finald'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