Reader Peter Holmes puts his Catholic education to good use by writing:<\/p>\n
Whether some jokes are not\u00a0Dad jokes<\/p>\n
Objection 1: The joke relies on knowledge not usually possessed by children. The joke is addressed to Facebook users who are, by law, over 14 years old. Therefore it is not a Dad joke.<\/p>\n
Objection 2: The joke is told on Facebook, where there are no children to groan and roll their eyes. Therefore it is not a Dad joke.<\/p>\n
Objection 3: The joke is part of a long series of jokes of the same genre, which means we were not surprised by the pun. Therefore it is not a Dad joke<\/p>\n
On the contrary, in Genesis Sarah says \u201cGod has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I answer that Dad jokes come in many kinds and have different responses. As Ecclesiastes says \u201cthere is a time to cry and a time to laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n
Repl Obj 1: A father remains a father of his children whatever age they are. Therefore a Dad joke may apply any level of knowledge available to adult children.<\/p>\n
Repl Obj 2: A father remains a father of his children even though distance separate them. Therefore a Dad joke may be told at great distances, even over Facebook. Also, eye-roll emote!<\/p>\n
Repl Obj 3: While surprise is desirable, persisting with relentless and inevitable puns is also desirable in Dad jokes. A series of jokes reveals not a lack of skill, but a mastery of the Dad joke. Therefore this is a Dad joke.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reader Peter Holmes puts his Catholic education to good use by writing: Whether some jokes are not\u00a0Dad jokes Objection 1: The joke relies on knowledge not usually possessed by children. The joke is addressed to Facebook users who are, by law, over 14 years old. Therefore it is not a Dad joke. Objection 2: The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,8],"class_list":["post-97208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-humor","tag-mailbag"],"yoast_head":"\n
A Thomistic Analysis of Dad Jokes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Reader Peter Holmes puts his Catholic education to good use by writing: Whether some jokes are not\u00a0Dad jokes Objection 1: The joke relies on knowledge not\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/a-thomistic-analysis-of-dad-jokes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Thomistic Analysis of Dad Jokes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reader Peter Holmes puts his Catholic education to good use by writing: Whether some jokes are not\u00a0Dad jokes Objection 1: The joke relies on knowledge not\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/a-thomistic-analysis-of-dad-jokes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-14T07:15:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-14T02:19:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/a-thomistic-analysis-of-dad-jokes.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/a-thomistic-analysis-of-dad-jokes.html\",\"name\":\"A Thomistic Analysis of Dad Jokes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-14T07:15:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-14T02:19:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"Reader Peter Holmes puts his Catholic education to good use by writing: Whether some jokes are not\u00a0Dad jokes Objection 1: The joke relies on knowledge not\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/a-thomistic-analysis-of-dad-jokes.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/a-thomistic-analysis-of-dad-jokes.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/a-thomistic-analysis-of-dad-jokes.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Thomistic Analysis of Dad Jokes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\",\"description\":\"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\",\"name\":\"Mark Shea\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Shea\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Thomistic Analysis of Dad Jokes","description":"Reader Peter Holmes puts his Catholic education to good use by writing: Whether some jokes are not\u00a0Dad jokes Objection 1: The joke relies on knowledge not","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/a-thomistic-analysis-of-dad-jokes.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Thomistic Analysis of Dad Jokes","og_description":"Reader Peter Holmes puts his Catholic education to good use by writing: Whether some jokes are not\u00a0Dad jokes Objection 1: The joke relies on knowledge not","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/a-thomistic-analysis-of-dad-jokes.html","og_site_name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","article_published_time":"2016-09-14T07:15:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-14T02:19:21+00:00","author":"Mark Shea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Shea","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/a-thomistic-analysis-of-dad-jokes.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/a-thomistic-analysis-of-dad-jokes.html","name":"A Thomistic Analysis of Dad Jokes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-09-14T07:15:38+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-14T02:19:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5"},"description":"Reader Peter Holmes puts his Catholic education to good use by writing: Whether some jokes are not\u00a0Dad jokes Objection 1: The joke relies on knowledge not","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/a-thomistic-analysis-of-dad-jokes.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/a-thomistic-analysis-of-dad-jokes.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/a-thomistic-analysis-of-dad-jokes.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Thomistic Analysis of Dad Jokes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/","name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","description":"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5","name":"Mark Shea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Shea"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}