nerd joke

[trochee]

what do machine-learning experts have in common with obstetric fertility experts?

They both work on Expectation Maximization!

Comments

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

I am unfriending you.

[trochee.livejournal.com]

ah, the internet, with its lack of paralinguistics.

I went and checked my user info to see if you were serious!

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

yes, bad medium for deadpan humor. Not because any other medium is better for it (when done well, deadpan humor lacks nuances in the moment of performance) but because there is no context to make it immediately clear that someone is joking.

Awful joke, though, J.

[trochee.livejournal.com]

okay, I feel obliged to tell the whole story -- this joke came up accidentally over dinner last night with a pregnant computational linguist.

so it's not my joke. I'm just cruel enough to pass it along to you.