Content-Type: text/shitpost

Many people have observed that French is much more verbose than English, at least it is currently. I wasn't thinking about it then, but yesterday's Darth Vader joke was (perhaps? maybe not) an interesting example. When I translated it to English, I cut it from 17 words to 11. The current fashion in English-language humor is to trim the setup to the bone.

It was not always so. Here is a highly typical example from Joe Miller's Jests, originally published in 1739:

On the Duke of York's horse Moses winning a match at Ascot, his royal highness appeared to look very thoughtful. A spectator asked Mr. Hunt, who happened to be present, what he supposed the royal sportsman could then be pondering on? ‘Why, you know,’, replied Mr. H. ‘that the duke is a bishop, and he is doubtless thinking of Moses and the profits.’