We’ve all been there—someone makes an awesome joke, but it’s either too subtle or it has a hidden twist to it that we don’t see. And the joke just goes over our heads, making a very loud ‘woooosh’ sound! However, some people don’t get these jokes to such a degree that their reactions get screenshotted and featured on the massively popular r/woooosh subreddit, an online community of over a million members.
Scroll down to find some of the most ridiculous times people missed the joke so bad, they ended up embarrassing themselves online. Don’t forget to upvote the pics and jokes that made you chuckle the most, Pandas.
If you’re in the mood for some more wonderfully weird ‘wooooshes,’ then we invite you to check out We’s earlier articles about r/woooosh when you’re done enjoying this list. You’ll find our previous article here, here, as well as here.
We got in touch with British comedy writer and aspiring pop star Ariane Sherine to have a chat about humor and not getting jokes. Scroll down for We’s interview with her.
#1 These Subtitles Are Really Immersive
We wanted to get comedy writer Ariane’s opinion on what it says about us as people if some jokes go over our heads. “Depending on the situation, it either means you’re not privy to knowledge you need to understand the joke, or it just means your brain doesn’t work in the way it needs to in order to understand that particular type of humor,” she said.
However, we shouldn’t worry because we all miss some jokes some of the time. Nobody’s perfect, not even comedy professionals. “Stuff goes over my head occasionally too and I’m a comedian!” Ariane told us.
RELATED: #2 1918 Netflix
#3 Core-Ean
The comedian isn’t sure if our awareness of what’s funny is just about exposure to humorous content. “Babies find a lot of things funny, so it’s partly innate,” she mused that understanding comedy is a mix of nature and nurture. “But for jokes like puns, you definitely need a firm grasp of language, and for political satire, you of course need an understanding of politics.”
We also touched on whose responsibility it is for the audience to get the joke, the comedian or the listeners. “It really depends on the joke and how it’s told,” Ariane said.
“People can’t be expected to get badly-told jokes where the setup or punchline is mangled, but if the joke’s told well, it’s not necessarily the comic’s fault if another person doesn’t get it. Humor can be quite a niche and individual thing, but if a joke regularly falls flat most comics will drop it from their sets.”
#4 Yeah, Why Is She On Them?
#5 Clearly, You’re Not Smart As You Think You Are
#6 Wdym, Its A Picture Taken Back Then
Judging people for their mistakes and feeling embarrassed when we make them ourselves are part and parcel of being a human being. It’s a part of who we are. However, there’s a healthy way to react when someone (including us!) misses the joke entirely.
Psychologist and wellbeing consultant Lee Chambers explained to We during a previous in-depth interview that people judge others both consciously and automatically. “Comically, we are often told as children not to judge others and have stories shared about how judging others can mean we upset them or lose opportunities to see what really lies behind our perception,” he told us.
#7 No It’s Blue
#8 I Know A Fat Guy Who Likes To Grill!
#9 Mews, Mewsment Park
There are a variety of reasons why we might judge someone. “Sometimes, we judge others to feel superior ourselves, finding faults in others, highlighting them, and feeling better about ourselves in the process. Sometimes, we use it to work out where we fit in, recognizing how we want to be, where our aspirations lie, and how we don’t want to become,” the psychologist revealed.
“Sometimes, it’s in response to our own flaws, and we attack others for what we don’t like or don’t see into ourselves. And on other occasions, it’s to fit into a wider group who judge something or someone, and we conform and perform with the same judgment,” Lee said.
#10 I Can’t Believe Da Vinci Would Do Something Like That
#11 Nothing Starts With “N” And Ends With “G”
#12 Nope He’s From Star Trek
In the psychologist’s view, being judgmental “does have some benefits when used mindfully.” For instance: “It can help us to set goals, find alignment with our values, it can help us to build the self-awareness of others and it can boost our self-esteem.”
#13 Right Over The Head Of An Anti-Vaxxer
#14 I Mean He Was Trying To Be Helpful
#15 Definitely The Bird Hitching A Ride
What’s more, passing judgment on others can help us make positive social choices. “it’s understanding how and why we judge that gives us the ability to use it for our benefits instead of escaping our flaws or pulling others down.”
Meanwhile, if we end up feeling embarrassed because we didn’t get a joke and we’ve responded in a frankly silly way online, it’s important to remember to accept those feelings. Running away from our embarrassment can, later on, morph into shame.
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#16 16 Thousand Likes Is A Lot Of Wooshes
#17 “This Is Also A Lie”
#18 I Guess He Won’t Be Getting 500k
“We spend a lot of time and effort presenting an ideal version of ourselves to other people. When something happens that contrasts with the image we’ve been projecting—when we say or do something that shows we actually aren’t as graceful or as smart as we’d like people to believe—we feel embarrassed,” Vanessa Bohns, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at Cornell University, told We.
#19 The Government Controls Everything Stoopit
#20 Running Was Invented
#21 Nothing Gets Past This Person, Not Even Those Sneaky Party Invites
“Discovering you were wrong about something most everyone else around you has long known to be true is one of those moments. In that moment we learn, ‘Wait a minute, maybe I haven’t been presenting the image of being smart or worldly that I thought I was presenting all this time,’ which is embarrassing,” she said.
#22 Frontside 180
#23 She Didn’t Understood
#24 Yes, Dorothy
“One thing that’s interesting about embarrassment is that, for as much as we might experience it as painful in the moment, it’s actually very socially adaptive. Being embarrassed signals to other people that you care about what they think. And that actually draws people in to you,” Vanessa said that there are benefits to showing that you’re embarrassed about a mistake.
#25 C’mon, Pet Smart Would’ve Told You It Was A Ferret
#26 Defending Schrödinger’s Cat
#27 How To Slow
“So blushing, burying your head in your hands, laughing, acknowledging how embarrassing something was, are all totally healthy ways to react,” she told us.
“The unhealthy way to react is to pretend you’re not embarrassed, that you didn’t make a mistake, or to get angry. Those things undo the positive effect of embarrassment typically has on other people by conveying insincerity and pushing people away rather than drawing them in.”
#28 Oh Wait
#29 By Flying Up Obviously???
#30 Hello, I’m Your
Which of these pics and ‘wooooshes’ did you enjoy looking at and reading the most, dear Pandas? Have you ever had a ‘woooosh’ moment? Have you ever had a joke go over someone else’s head? Share your thoughts with all of us in the comment section at the bottom of this list.
#31 He Also Forgot About Canadian And Australian
#32 Discord
#33 Definitely Left
#34 Wow, Really
#35 Congratulations, You Didn’t Get It
#36 How Tf Does Sgel Stand For That
#37 This Is Heartbreaking
#38 F In The Chat For The People In The Old Days
#39 This Is Quite Offensive
#40 Which One?
#41 This Man Speaks The Deutsch
#42 You Can’t See Me
#43 Your Mind Tricks Don’t Work On Me
#44 He Really Think He Did Something
#45 It’s An Ifunnier, So Go Ahead And Hate On Him
#46 Wtf Look At Them All !
#47 Apologies For Being On Instagram
#48 I’d Like A Tornado
#49 Sorry It’s On Instagram
#50 It’s Just A Picture You Dumbass
#51 Star Wars Fans At Their Finest
#52 I Was Dumb To Assume That People On Facebook Had A Sense Of Humor
#53 No Suck Playing For This Guy
#54 I Seen A Old Man Getting
#55 How Could You Forget This
#56 People Dumb
#57 But Seriously Where Does The Water Come From?
#58 You Can’t See Me
#59 There Was An Attempt To Understand The Humor
#60 I Don’t Know Man I Think It Looks Pretty Real
#61 Kid Named Ency
#62 A Reddit User Thought People Really Thought People Confused Mt Everest With A Nuclear Bomb Attack
#63 Dogs Must Think
#64 All My Homies Hate Will
#65 That Won’t Kill You
#66 Hmm Ohk!
#67 Man Twitter Makes Me Feel So Stupid Sometimes
#68 Bro It’s A Meme
#69 He’s A Genius
#70 Dave Grohl Should Create His Own Band
#71 Good Lord
#72 Context, Teller Never Speaks During Performance
#73 Yes Of Course Silly, And Airports Also Existed Back Then
#74 Oh Damn Sorry Didn’t Realize
#75 Niantic Isn’t Trying To Get Their Players Killed?
#76 Keyboards Were Invented In 1868
#77 Yep Totally Blaming Ninja
#78 Vikings Covered Their Roofs In Grass
#79 Small Talk
#80 F.o.r.t.n.i.t.e
#81 Right Over The Head
#82 Hmm What A Coincidence
#83 Oh Really
#84 Thank God I’m A Scorpion And Not An Asparagus
#85 Fact Checker
#86 This Had To Be There
#87 5 Foot 12
#88 The Ladies Man
#89 Programming Humor Irl
#90 The Commentator Felt Compelled To Make It Very Clear
#91 I Discovered This On A Random Poll
#92 You Hurt My Brain Alot
#93 Idk What To Put Here
#94 They Don’t?
#95 Really Went Over That Guy’s Head. Am I Right?
#96 He Saw John Cena, But At What Cost?
#97 He’d Get Fired You Idiots
#98 Average Elon Musk Enjoyer
#99 My Friend Got Me And It Went Right Over My Head
#100 Obama’s Angry Because Trump Found Out His Last Name
#101 Pov: You Dont Have A Sense Of Humor
#102 Blind Playthrough Tag For Being
#103 Did You Know They’re Actually The Same Character????
#104 No S**t Dude
#105 Smuthe Brian Pleb
#106 Call Of Duty Wwll
#107 Im Pretty Sure Its Hulk Though
#108 Photo Generator
#109 Hmmmm What Was His Name
#110 *sigh* Why.
#111 There Surprisingly Was Only One Other Person Saying That Too, Probably Because It Isn’t That Old
#112 Luckily He Was There To Correct The Meme
#113 Redditors Woooshing Themselves Is Something Magic
#114 Had To Be Twitter..
#115 He Betrayed Us
#116 This Is A Bruh Moment
#117 It’s 10
#118 Thats Kinda Embarassing
#119 He’s Either A Troll Or A Dumb To Think He Would Eat All Of The Tic Tacs
#120 Thanks Vice!
#121 It’s About How You Treat A Grill
#122 No Culture Whatsoever
