[BAD] IDEAS THAT MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD

Say: Knock Knock

Try this little trick to find out who’s there

I will prove to you by the end of this short essay that even when the stakes are high, we are sometimes susceptible to being subliminally programmed into a pattern of action just because it’s the path of least resistance.

I do this all the time, I go up to people and say “Say Knock Knock”.

Then they reflexively go: “Knock Knock”

and I go:

“Who’s there?”

And they look at me like I just pulled their pants down in the middle of Times Square.

A look of half-confusion: How the hell should I know, and half more confusion, What did you just do to me?

Sometimes they go (by the way, don’t you love when people “go” instead of “say”?) “you tell me, this is your joke” and then I go, “well, you’re the one who knocked.”

Some of my quicker-witted friends wing it with the old standard: Boo.

Boo Who?

Don’t Cry little baby, it’ll be okay.

Try it: go up to someone and say: “Say Knock Knock”.

They will.