It would be funny

Wherein you keep using that word


Came upon the following comment at Reason's Hit and Run: Lots of Republicans are talking about voting in the Democrat primaries for Obama to keep Hillary out and lots of Democrats are talking about voting in the Republican primaries for Ron Paul. It would be funny if the Republicans nominated Obama and the Democrats nominated Ron Paul.

Anyone else laughing out there?

• Daily Free Press: "I thought It would be funny calling it Rhett Burger, like it was made out of Rhett," Polcik said. "[Then] I just put an apostrophe in Rhett's. . . . I also posted a bunch of derivatives of it like Rhett's Greasy Spoon or Rhett's Diner.
  
• The Star: I was told a story about a young female teacher whose students got hold of her email address. She was engaged, and they decided It would be funny to send an email to her fiancé, a confession suggesting she'd been cheating. It was credible enough that it broke up the relationship.
  
• Edmonton Sun: "We thought It would be funny ... I didn't mean to offend anyone, certainly not the family of this officer.
  
• Irish Independent News: "The Government however seem to think these machines will still be working in 25 years. If the taxpayer wasn't paying for this debacle, It would be funny."
  
• Oxford Press: Another female came forward and said the guy carrying the gun was Norton, who told police he and Gentry thought It would be funny to run out of the apartment and pretend to be fighting.
  
• Concord MOnitor: Have you ever tried calling them? It would be funny if it weren't so sad. They must stay up nights figuring out how to complicate their phone system to discourage people from calling.
  

Many of these stories could be cross-referenced with the "hold my beer and watch this" catalog of bad ideas.

Conclusion: Actual humor is rarely involved with the phrase "it would be funny." There is even a decent chance it will be used to describe the aftermath of a tragic event. So if you ever hear yourself saying "Come on, it will be funny," just sit down, close your eyes, and take long, deep breathes. Eventually the impulse will pass and no one will get hurt.