So in your mind it makes more sense that I was genuinely calling Einstein an alien? That the hyperbole of calling someone an alien didn't possibly register as being in jest?

Do you wait for the comedian to explain the joke before you're able to clarify their position?

I don't think you're commenting in good faith because none of the alternatives for what I could've meant make any sense.

Good comedians don’t need to explain their jokes. Good jokes don’t need to be explained. Yet here we are.

The joke police are ruthless today. Just let me pay the fine, surely it's easier than having to convince people I don't actually think Einstein was an alien.

Tesla? Actually an alien.

(I'm kidding please stop).

I suspect these are people who think you're an actor for a nation state who accidentally let slip something s/he knows about Einstein being an alien.

I was basically accused of being a Russian agent on here once for using the word "Boomer" while referring to a model of car that only that generation would have remembered.

There's a smattering of extra crispy ESR-style hackers on here that occasionally trips over something you might not expect them to.

The fact is that this person did not use the word alien in their original "joke" - they wrote "That's assuming Einstein was even human." They then proceeded to act like a bully or abuser would act - "Oh, it was a joke! I meant it as a joke and I forgot to drop the punchline until almost an hour later! You are so dumb for thinking otherwise!" As an older sibling, this is something straight out of older sibling 101 and I picked up on it immediately when I saw the interaction between sillysaurusx and oldstrangers.

There is no weird conspiracy here, there was just someone acting in an uncivil manner who was called out on it and who then kept things going.

I was actually expecting the joke to fall back on the fact that he was indeed a completely legal alien. Because he was, and that is humor.

"That's assuming Einstein was even human."

If English is your native language and you interpret that literally, then yeah, I don't know what to tell you.

The downvotes for you and the rest of the people that took that literally should also probably indicate that the majority of people thought you were being ridiculous. Yet... you continue on.

;)

That's pretty impressive. I wish I knew if Einstein was actually an alien.

Also I forget that a lot of engineer types take a very rigid approach to language.

"Get eggs while you're at the store!"

He's still there to this day...

This thread just keeps getting weirder. Am I on HN?

That's what they want you to believe.