Item:

Speaker 1: “Knock, Knock”

Speaker 2: “Who’s There?”

Speaker 1: “Interrupting Coefficient of Friction.”

Speaker 2: “Interrupting–”

Speaker 1 (interrupts): “MUUUUUUU”

Speaker 2: “Interrupting–”

Speaker 1 (interrupts): “MUUUUUUU”

• Oral Folklore: joke
• English
• USA
• Collector: Agastya Gupta

Informant Data:

Yohann Curmally is an ENGS/Economics Major in the Dartmouth College Class of 2018. He is from Mumbai, India.

Contextual Data:

The informant heard this joke from a friend in high school three years ago, but has not had really used it often since.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Yohann’s Interview:

Informant’s Comments:

The informant mentioned that the joke is based on the principle in physics and engineering called the “interrupting coefficient of friction.” The variable which represents this coefficient is the greek letter μ, pronounced “Meww.” The fun is had by interrupting people with this annoying sound, much like the interrupting coefficient of friction would a moving object.

Collector’s Comments:

This joke would be categorized in the stereotype category. Participants are seen as antisocial in that they’d rather interrupt a conversation to make a physics/engineering than actually engage with another human being.

Tags/Keywords:

jokes, engineering, stereotypes