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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 October 2011
Summary
jokes about engineers. The words of an imagined recent engineering graduate, “Once I couldn't even spell injunear, and now I are one,” is a familiar commentary that engineers make about themselves, perhaps reflecting what they think the rest of the world thinks of them. Then there is what is perhaps one of the most popular self-characterizations of the engineer, which takes the form of a question-answer interchange: “How can you tell an introverted engineer? He looks at his shoes when he is talking to you. How can you tell an extroverted engineer? She looks at your shoes when she is talking to you.”
Another engineer joke might go as follows: A lawyer, a priest, and an engineer were scheduled to be guillotined. First the lawyer's neck was placed in the device, but when the executioner pulled on the latch, the blade got stuck and did not fall. The lawyer was told that it must have been a sign of a higher form of justice and that his life was spared. He walked away saying justice had indeed been served. Next the priest's neck was locked in place. When the executioner pulled the latch, the blade also got stuck. Higher powers were again assumed to have intervened. The priest was released, and he walked away praising the Lord. Then the engineer was locked in place, and as he waited for the blade to drop, he craned his neck to inspect the mechanism of the guillotine.
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- An Engineer's AlphabetGleanings from the Softer Side of a Profession, pp. 167 - 171Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011