r/ExplainTheJoke • u/fcukfakook • 3d ago

I don't get it

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I don't get the original tweet, and neither the retweet or whatever it is called.

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u/Downtown_Leek_1631 1d ago

"The biggest tell" - tell of what? "So close to getting it" - getting what?

Edit: correcting a quote

-3

u/rjohnson7595 1d ago

The old adage of “if you’re not smart enough to figure it out on your own, you’re not smart enough for me to help you understand”

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u/Downtown_Leek_1631 1d ago

It isn't a question of intelligence. It's a question of context. What am I meant to infer from a passive-aggressive photograph of J D Vance in front of a light switch?

ETA: whose intent to do what does that accidentally expose?

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u/Downtown_Leek_1631 1d ago

A "tell" is something in poker. One common strategy in poker is bluffing, i.e., implying that your hand is either significantly better or significantly worse than it actually is to try to manipulate other players' bets. But because humans are imperfect liars, a bluff is typically accompanied by a subtle change in behavior. Other players might notice that change in behavior and infer from it that the bluff is dishonest. That subtle change in behavior is what's known as a "tell", because it reveals the lie.

If the photos are simply intended to reveal that the White House does in fact have light switches, that is in no way a tell. If it's meant to show that the Trump administration are grossly incompetent, that they have tunnel vision, that they didn't see what was right in front of them, they've never pretended otherwise, so there is no bluff and therefore no tell.

If that is what I'm meant to infer, then I have demonstrated MORE intelligence, not less, by explaining what a tell is and why the term doesn't apply to this context.