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Comment by cyber_kinetist | Hacker News Reader

Note that the opposite can also be true: some philosophers can also be good comedians (in spite of the general stereotype that all philosophers are excruciatingly boring and dry, which can partially be attributed to the proliferation of analytic philosophy.)

For example Slavoj Zizek has a whole book dedicated to cataloguing his (often "politically incorrect") jokes. Link here: https://meydanehonar.com/Panel/Uploads/6/3/7/8d1a8c61-47d2-4...

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Fun fact: In German the words for knowledge ('Wissen') and wit/joke ('Witz') share the same root.

It's fun, and they share the two first letters but it's not a fact:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wissen#German

From Middle High German and Old High German wizzan, from Proto-West Germanic witan, from Proto-Germanic witaną, from Proto-Indo-European wóyde (“to see, to know”).

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Witz#Etymology

From Middle High German witz, from Old High German wizzi, from Proto-West Germanic witi, from Proto-Germanic witją from Proto-Indo-European weyd- (“see, know”).

Cognate to English wit, archaic Dutch wit, akin to Old Saxon giwit.

So they share the same concepts ('to see, to know') but not the same roots! Very closely related though.

Then you click on wóyde and see that it's the

> Root stative of the root *weyd-.

Thanks for sharing this! Zizek is extremely engaging but I wish he would be more perscriptive than just descriptive.

Thank you. This is why I keep coming back here. I would not have stumbled on it on my own. It hits quite hard for me.

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