You Can’t Make This Stuff Up

(It is a quiet evening and all of us who are on shift are good friends, so we are chatting. Someone mentions having read something weird online, and I laugh.)

Me: “Makes me think of that quote that goes something like, ‘75% of what you read online is made up. Abraham Lincoln.'”

Coworker #1: “…but, they didn’t have the Internet when Abraham Lincoln was around.”

Me: “Exactly!”

Coworker #1: “So how could he have said it?”

(Everyone else had immediately understood the joke, and several try to get him to understand it.)

Coworker #2: “That’s why it’s funny! Abraham Lincoln couldn’t/ have said it, so it’s pointing out that stuff online isn’t always believable.”

Coworker #1: “But… why would it say Abraham Lincoln said it? He wasn’t around!”

(We all finally give up and continue on with what we were doing. About an hour later, the penny finally drops.)

Coworker #1: “Oh! It means the Internet isn’t reliable because Abraham Lincoln could never have known about the Internet so someone obviously made up that he said it!”

(He proceeded to laugh at the joke. We all couldn’t help but join in.)