Editing Talk:1391: Darkness

{{tvtropes|MundaneMadeAwesome|http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MundaneMadeAwesome}} --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:07, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
:Ugghhh, you just HAD to link to TVTropes... Now I'm gonna get sucked into the vortex! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.49|108.162.216.49]] 02:16, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

This narrative was actually the very first story I've read in The Onion back in 2006: [http://www.theonion.com/articles/rotation-of-earth-plunges-entire-north-american-co,1905/] -- [[User:Xorg|Xorg]] ([[User talk:Xorg|talk]]) 08:28, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

Isn't there a problem with the wish formulation? If the genie does not remember ever granting any wishes, how come the one in the comic is labelled as his "last wish". {{unsigned ip|173.245.49.181}}

"There usually is an added stipulation" ... really? Most time I read about genies, it's about someone using some clever way to overcome the limit on number of wishes, if there IS any limit to start with - but what I read may not be representative. This may require more research ... what is the most "traditional" genie story? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:47, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

:The most traditional would be the character simply carefully choosing all three wishes, using the last one at the very end of e story. Again, not representative either, but from what I've read the concept of "getting around the three-wish limit" seems to be a more recent take on the 'traditional' version. [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 13:00, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
::The most traditional would be the character simply carefully choosing all three wishes, using the last one at the very end of e story. Again, not representative either, but from what I've read the concept of "getting around the three-wish limit" seems to be a more recent take on the 'traditional' version. [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 13:00, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
:I'm pretty well-read in folklore. The three-wishes tale that I have seen come up most often involves a man getting three wishes, wishing for a sausage, his wife complaining, him wishing the sausage were on her nose and then wishing it were off her nose. There are several variants of that [//www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0750a.html here].

::I know that three-wishes tales are old and numerous. I was specifically asking for the traditional GENIE story - that is, if the traditional GENIE story is a three-wishes one (or if the traditional genie story is without limit). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:35, 9 July 2014 (UTC)
:::Traditional ''1,001 Nights'' genies, of which there are several, are more likely to grant one wish than three (and more likely to do something else than grant wishes, for that matter) but the most famous genies, from ''Aladin and the Magic Lamp'' would both grant unlimited wishes, but in a strictly hierarchical manner, where the genie of the ring could do much less than the genie of the lamp, and the former's magic could never interfere with the latter's. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.76|199.27.128.76]] 10:10, 14 July 2014 (UTC)

:I agree the ruse of getting more wishes is a modern device, not a folk one. In a ''Godel, Escher, Bach'' dialogue, for example, it is explained that genies only cast wishes, not metawishes (wishes about wishes). That requires a metagenie. [[User:Fewmet|Fewmet]] ([[User talk:Fewmet|talk]]) 03:03, 8 July 2014 (UTC)
Um... If the genie cannot remember that each wish was NOT his first, that does not preclude him from keeping track of or remembering how many wishes he has made.  It doesn't keep him from remembering other wishes, he simply can't remember which one was NOT first.  Perhaps I'm over-thinking this, but the genie would probably say,  "I may remember your last wish was only your first, but I distinctly remember the 3 wishes you've made so far, especially the one to screw with my head.  So... no more wishes for you." XP -naginalf [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.40|108.162.216.40]] 13:17, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
:I was more wondering about the genie having pause for thought when (remembering no previous wishes) he hears "for my ''last'' wish...".  But with genies generally being the 'manual workers' of the magical world, generally being unimaginative (except for those that tend to twist wishes into causing unintended consequences, possibly something that Wish #1 was used to explore the possibility of) and working to rule (perhaps "twist the wish" is one of the rules?), they don't notice.  [i]Or[/i] they're so fed up with "bottled servitude" that they'd be quite happy to go along with this new guy with the new attempt at rules-lawyering, at least until they get bored... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.192|141.101.99.192]] 14:07, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

::Considering the alternative is to stay in bottle (which looks definitely more boring to me) I'm surprised there IS a limit at all - or more exactly, that it's the GENIE forcing that limit, as opposed to some outside force. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:28, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

I took this to be a reference to [//wisegeek.com/what-is-a-news-cycle.htm#didyouknowout news cycles]. The wisher was irritated that news reporting is influenced by an artificial constraint like the [//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24-hour_news_cycle 24 hour news cycle] and wished the media would forget about it. In classic form, a poorly-worded wish is inconveniently interpreted. [[User:Fewmet|Fewmet]] ([[User talk:Fewmet|talk]]) 15:34, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

I think this is more about the media getting into a frenzy about things that are basic properties of living.  (car accidents, breakins, starvation, murder, war, etc.) So they might as well get bent out of shape about something like the day/night cycle which is an absurd reduction of their usual retarded mannerisms. [[User:Chorb|Chorb]] ([[User talk:Chorb|talk]]) 21:51, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

This makes so much more sense than how I'd always read this comic before: that the sun literally disappeared, which would certainly upset the normal news cycle.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.64|108.162.221.64]] 19:26, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

I thought that the first wish was the hamster ball wish (https://xkcd.com/152/). [[User:Phlaxyr|Phlaxyr]] ([[User talk:Phlaxyr|talk]]) 03:17, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

"Maybe he wasted the first wish, because he did not believe the genie was able to grant wishes - a common error{{Citation needed}}." How is this a common error? If I was the one making that wish, I would ask for something worthwhile. I would not waste a wish just to check whether or not it really is a genie. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.106|108.162.216.106]] 01:01, 12 July 2017 (UTC)

Reminds me of a George Carlin joke where a weatherman forcasts increasing darkness at night. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.125|108.162.238.125]] 00:50, 23 September 2019 (UTC)