What’s The Difference? #socs

Stream of Consciousness Saturday 2 Minutes
Image by Jannik Texler from Pixabay

When you were learning subtraction way back when, did you have to learn the names of the parts of the equation? Say you have the equation 3-1=2. The 3 is the minuend, the 1 is the subtrahend, and the 2 is, depending on where you went to school, the remainder or the difference.

Now, it’s likely been 60 years since I thought about that, but for whatever reason it’s the first thing I thought of for the prompt difference. And, when you think of it, what difference does it make? All I can think of is that it gave my arithmetic teacher something to spend a day talking about…

What’s the difference between a comma and a cat? A comma is a pause at the end of a clause, while a cat has claws at the end of its paws. That’s the cleanest joke of that sort I could think of. Trust me, you don’t want to hear the others.

I had a book once called Bennett Cerf’s Book of Riddles. The first riddle, of course, was "Who’s Bennett Cerf?" Wikipedia tells us

Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American publisher and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his television appearances in the panel game show What’s My Line?

If you ever get a chance, watch the old episodes of What’s My Line? I think one of the game show channels runs them late at night. A contestant comes in and the panel (which usually included Mr. Cerf, Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen, and a guest celebrity) would ask "yes" or "no" questions and try to figure out what the person did for a living. There’s a YouTube channel with a bunch of episodes on it. Here’s one…

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to you each week by Linda Hill and this station. Now a word about the Reynolds Aluminum Tapper. Enjoy Hamm’s on tap in the Tapper!

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

15 thoughts on “What’s The Difference? #socs”

  1. I love that show and actually have been watching quite a few of these over my lunch time. I love Dorothy Kilgallen and am so intrigued by her death because I believe she was murdered…she knew too much. The young shy lady is so cute and funny that she makes cigars.

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    1. I read the book “The Reporter Who Knew Too Much,” about Dorothy and what might have resulted in her death as well as who might have done it. She evidently got the opportunity to interview Jack Ruby, who killed Lee Harvey Oswald (JFK’s assassin), but when they found her body they didn’t find her notes or anything like the beginning of a book. Very strange, and points to maybe the CIA or the Mafia, although the author thinks it’s someone totally unrelated. Definitely a good read…

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  2. Pingback: The Electronic Disaster Week That Was – The Sound of One Hand Typing

    1. The panel on “What’s My Line?” was made up of four highly-intelligent people. You could probably say that about all the Goodson-Todman game shows (To Tell The Truth, Password, I’ve Got A Secret, etc.) It wasn’t an insult to your intelligence to watch it.

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    1. I think the appeal of What’s My Line was the panel, who were very erudite and had great senses of humor. Plus the idea of trying to figure out what crazy profession someone was in was an obvious attraction. “The Man From UNCLE” was always a great show and I wish it would come back to one of the nostalgia TV stations.

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  5. I like the cat joke! Very good! I remember watching ‘What’s My Line’ all the time. It was good, and they were pretty funny sometimes. I think they did an updated one later on, which was good, too. 🙂

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    1. Gleason was an amazing actor: very funny, but he could play serious roles as well. He played Minnesota Fats in “The Hustler” with Paul Newman, and the title character in the movie “Gigot,” which he also wrote. We used to watch his show every Saturday night when we were kids.

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