Well, the voting is over, and it was a neck-and-neck gallop for the finish line. I was monitoring the poll at regular intervals for the last hour, and what seemed a sure victory turned into a narrow upset. But there's a clear winner, with no need for another tie-breaker vote.
There were 296 votes overall. Here are the stats for all the captions that earned double-digit totals, in reverse order, leading to the winner:
Coming in at fifth place, Caption 16 earned 11 votes.
Charles brooded. After all, Anna was supposed to be HIS mistress, not his wife's.
Emmitt Dove in CT
Coming in at fourth place, Caption 2 earned 32 votes.
Woman: "What are you writing dear?"
Man: "A suicide note... sign here!"
Dumbfounded
Coming in at third place, Caption 35 earned 33 votes.
Realizing he had spent the best years of his life in the simultaneous pursuit of deep intellectual thought and loose women, the now middle aged Henry Willingsworth decided then and there to dedicate his life to chasing the dragon. Yes, an opium habit would make the insufferable voices go away...well that and murder....
Chelonian
Coming in at second place, Caption 62 earned 36 votes.
Theodore turned in his chair, giving Betty and Lynn a lingering, side-long glance. "What could they be up to...?" he thought to himself, fingering his fountain pen precariously over the manuscript of his latest novel, the sprawling epic, 'Foamy Waves of Passion's Ungoverned Despair'. "I'm sure that they couldn't know--how could they know? I've hidden the trapdoor well; and even if she did suspect, two layers of sea-lion-skin rugs are far too heavy to lift for a woman of such dainty pulchritude as Lynn--But Betty... Betty, Betty, Betty, I'm not so sure about that one. She's a dyke. She has dyke-strength, that one. And ho! Perhaps when Lynn herself was trying to persuade me 'oh Theodore, stop calling my sister a dyke, for heaven's sake she has three children' that lesbian-queen herself was hurling those rugs away like a behemoth vixen, clawing through my trap door, bounding across the rancid-custard booby-traps (nay, she must've slurped up the foul concoctions herself, that nefarious demon-puss!), and into the secret chamber! God help me, if she laid her dirty dyke-tongue on a single one of my Boy Meets World action figures, in the name of Topanga, I will f--"
Sam in Colorado
Coming in first, Caption 4 earned 38 votes.
Thanks to his mother, Simon wasn't turning out to be the quite the son Gordon had hoped for.
Dumbfounded
So that makes Dumbfounded the winner! He passed Sam in Colorado only during the last few minutes of the contest.
Dumbfounded's win is especially notable, since another entry of his placed fourth.
Let's all hear it for Dumbfounded! Yay! Huzzah!
And Messr. Dumbfounded must now send me his snail-mail particulars:
[email protected].
Let me address a few issues raised in various comments.
First, Sam's two entries--Caption 62 and Caption 63--were really intended as one by him. I split them because there was a huge spatial gap between them, and no apparent segue. Caption 63 picked up one vote, which, added to the total for Caption 62, still did not top Dumbfounded. Now, it might be argued that I screwed Sam's chances by this accidental editorial revision. But it could equally be argued that I made Caption 62 more attractive by splitting it. In any case, I regret not consulting Sam first, and so I am going to award him a consolation prize!
Sam in Colorado: please send me your snail-mail particulars!
[email protected]
That's how we roll here at WEIRD UNIVERSE. Just like Obama, we admit mistakes and seek to remedy them!
Next, some readers suggested that I should have trimmed the list of contestants down to a handful of "best" entries. That was precisely what I was trying to avoid: imposing my judgment on the WU democracy. So I'm grateful everyone was willing to deal with the huge slate of choices.
I just want to thank all the contestants and all the voters and all the silent readers who just sat back and enjoyed the contest. You're a super bunch!
A) Here's the original caption above, for your enjoyment and comparison.
B) I've shut off Comments on the original Contest Post, so all entries are officially in.
C) If you look at the count for Comments on that post, you should see the figure of "89." Two comments were corrections to the contestants' prior entries. One comment was a compliment to another contestant. But one comment contained two captions. So 89 minus 3 plus 1 equals 87 entries on display here, EACH ONE BEARING A UNIQUE VOTING NUMBER ABOVE THE ENTRY, and the contestant's handle beneath.
D) It's a lot of reading, in a big post, but I did not want to hide any entries in an "Extended" section, as I felt that would prejudice readers against them.
E) I haven't tampered with the entries, except to add an occasional bit of punctuation or capitalization, or maybe fix a spelling error.
F) Decide which entry you like best,
THEN VISIT THIS LINK, WHERE THE VOTING WIDGET LIVES.
G) I've tested the polling widget, which I could not embed here, and it seems to work fine. The current results should display as you vote.
H) Tomorrow around this time, I'll disable the voting and declare a winner!
I) Good luck to everyone!
1)
"Darling, our 'credit crunch' worries are over! Daphne's agreed to go on the game!"
Dumbfounded
2)
Woman: "What are you writing dear?"
Man: "A suicide note... sign here!"
Dumbfounded
3)
Woman: "It's very nice of Merrill Lynch, but couldn't we just have a cash bonus again like last year?"
Dumbfounded
4)
Thanks to his mother, Simon wasn't turning out to be the quite the son Gordon had hoped for.
Dumbfounded
5)
I knew I couldn't afford two of them!
Rofo
6)
No, I'm not with another man, I just haven't been in the mood, for you.
Rofo
7)
The "two for the price of one" psychoanalysis special was not going as well as Dr. Smythe had envisioned.
Ledasmom
8)
Woman : BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH!
Man (to himself) : Fucking whores.
JoJo
9)
So THAT'S why you're always spending so much time at your "book club" meeting!
Dawn in PA
10)
Two wives = laid twice as often? HAH! They prefer each other and the selfish little wenches won't even consider a threesome!
Dawn in PA
11)
My Facebook page clearly stated I was not interested in a "conventional" relationship!
Moon in manassas, va
12)
Don't be glum dear, you can watch next time.
Nicole in VA
13)
"I'm sorry Honey, it's my new diet. No protein for six months."
Merlin in Las Cruces, NM
14)
The down side of being a single guy working the wedding registration desk for gay marriages.
Merlin in Las Cruces, NM
15)
Woman: "Remember, it's only a Green Card marriage. You didn't think you were actually going to get any, did you?."
Merlin in Las Cruces, NM
16)
Charles brooded. After all, Anna was supposed to be HIS mistress, not his wife's.
Emmitt Dove in CT
17)
Actually, Marge, he does have a dick; I just don't let him use it.
Expat47 in Athens, Greece
18)
He's been like that ever since he invented that vibrator thingy.
Expat47 in Athens, Greece
19)
Oh Roger, don't be such a grouch. It makes perfect sense ... while you work on the "Economic", Betty will work on the "Stimulus".
Mad Hatter
20)
Oh Roger, you have such an active imagination! It's just a book club ... uh, and then we're going shopping for some sensible shoes.
Mad Hatter
21)
-Darling, you have been nominated in Obama's Cabinet!
-Did you pay your taxes?
Yudith
22)
Don't look so glum dear, we agreed to let you watch.
Jules in CT
23)
Darling, do you think that asshole Madd Maxx is going to cause problems with this contest like he did with the first one?
Madd Maxx
24)
How many times do I have to tell you honey? It doesn't matter what you put on your Christmas list. There is no Santa.
Madd Maxx
25)
Honey, Elizabeth and I are going upstairs to munch on each others rugs. Could you be a dear and let us know when Top Chef comes on?
Madd Maxx
26)
Don't worry, Alice. Once you're married you can stop sucking him.
Sweetie, remember when we used to have oral sex? Hee hee!
Madd Maxx
27)
George likes working those silly sudoku puzzles. Hee hee. Silly man, those things will never be popular.
Madd Maxx
28)
Hopefully someone will invent a pill one day to take care of Richard's limp problems.
Madd Maxx
29)
He: "What are you two tittering about?"
She: "We just realized that when cloning is perfected for humans, men will become obsolete! And it's men who work so hard to make this possible! Isn't it hilarious?"
A.R.Yngve
30)
Darling, $20,000 isn't too much for her wedding. She's your precious baby. It's only her 5th marriage, this is something to treasure.
Jessica in Pittsburgh
31)
Don't be mad at me because I said was I was inviting Julia over for pancakes, and this wasn't what you had in mind.
Matt in Florida
32)
Who needs men? We have cloning now!
Susan in Seattle
33)
After his sex change operation, he found their "girly" chatter to be inane, and unbearable.
Barry Parsons
34)
Woman speaking: Honey, you bug me for months about a threesome with another "lady", and now you seem reluctant.
Man: "Lady?" If I had a bulge in my pants as big as "her's" I'd have to wear a skirt too.
VoiceInTheFan in PA
35)
Realizing he had spent the best years of his life in the simultaneous pursuit of deep intellectual thought and loose women, the now middle aged Henry Willingsworth decided then and there to dedicate his life to chasing the dragon. Yes, an opium habit would make the insufferable voices go away...well that and murder....
Chelonian
36)
Don't worry Monica, Bill's just upset that I won't let him play in the Oval Office anymore.
Dead Girl in In the USA
37)
Don't worry, girl. He's just jealous 'cause your gas is louder.
Dave
38)
"Oh Darling, don't be silly. Just write the check and we'll be off to the shops. We have plenty of money in the bank... what could there possibly be to worry about?"
SeriouslyJane in Sparks, NV
39)
The real reason Chuck Shepherd keeps posting "News of the Weird" late...
Yoyogod
40)
"Oh, Todd! It's all so exciting! First I get nominated to run for Vice President and now it seems that our little Bristol is in the family way!"
Martel
41)
He (thinking): What has D. H. Lawrence got that I haven't?
Phred22
42)
You sir! Guess which one of us is the lady and get a prize.
Malk
43)
Somehow, Alastair knew this would be his last letter from the Bergdorf's display window.
Kirk Vilb in East Anglia
44)
"Sorry, Darling, She just does it so much BETTER than you!"
Nighthawk
45)
Oh, he always gets this way around tax time.
Jack in Fairfax Station, VA
46)
He's not smiling Bob!
Morgin
47)
Don't be so Madd Maxx, there is enough of me to go around!
NewGuy
48)
If you're going to use your constantly moving mouths to distract me, there are better ways.
MARCUS
49)
C'mon, Henry. No one reads anymore anyway, and Anais wants to show us some neat French thing she learned...
Vitajex
50)
Dear Penthouse....
Greenlantern
51)
Dearest Casanova,
Something went terribly wrong...
Cfx
52)
Chicks are for fags!
Barry Parsons
53)
No, Honey, she's MY Valentines Day present! You already had your little "private phone call," remember?
Dave Hanford
54)
Husband: Hey honey, did you make a new friend today?
Wife: Really? You're just now realizing that we're conjoined twins?
Rachel
55)
Woman 1: Hey, Dickhead, what are you writing?
Man: None of your business, Bitch!
Woman 2: Wow, you two have such honest, open communication.
CaptainBuzzkill in Canada
56)
Arthur, dear. She says she'll do us both for 50 bucks.
Babeecow
57)
You are wasting your time darling. Betty heard that some French madman already wrote 'memoirs'.
Zlzl
58)
Woman: You should have seen Florence's husband's face when we came out. Oh, hang on, it was just like that actually...
Jake in Manchester, UK
59)
He claims to have writer's block. If you ask me, the only cure for his 'blockage' is prune juice.
Kelby in Austin
60)
Come, Sherlock! Maybe a threesome will assuage your dyspepsia!
Ted S. in Little Falls, NY
61)
Darling, i've told Annabelle she can stay as long as she likes, you'd be happy to sleep on the couch while she's here.
Patty
62)
Theodore turned in his chair, giving Betty and Lynn a lingering, side-long glance. "What could they be up to...?" he thought to himself, fingering his fountain pen precariously over the manuscript of his latest novel, the sprawling epic, 'Foamy Waves of Passion's Ungoverned Despair'. "I'm sure that they couldn't know--how could they know? I've hidden the trapdoor well; and even if she did suspect, two layers of sea-lion-skin rugs are far too heavy to lift for a woman of such dainty pulchritude as Lynn--But Betty... Betty, Betty, Betty, I'm not so sure about that one. She's a dyke. She has dyke-strength, that one. And ho! Perhaps when Lynn herself was trying to persuade me 'oh Theodore, stop calling my sister a dyke, for heaven's sake she has three children' that lesbian-queen herself was hurling those rugs away like a behemoth vixen, clawing through my trap door, bounding across the rancid-custard booby-traps (nay, she must've slurped up the foul concoctions herself, that nefarious demon-puss!), and into the secret chamber! God help me, if she laid her dirty dyke-tongue on a single one of my Boy Meets World action figures, in the name of Topanga, I will f--"
Sam in Colorado
63)
"Oh Lynn, that was a hilarious joke about pecans."
"Do you think so? Oh why thank you Betty. I do so enjoy--"
"Lynn."
"Yes?"
"He's doing it again."
"Oh. Oh dear. Why do you think he... And that eyebrow, my god."
"I never knew a person could raise their eyebrow so high."
"Really, that's quite an achievement."
"Yes. But it is quite unsettling."
"Yes."
"Let's go for a drink."
"Yes, now please."
Sam in Colorado
64)
Don't worry, Jules. Madd Maxx is just mad that we played pancakes without him.
KW in Dallas, TX
65)
Hmmm... I wonder how much I'll save if I file my tax status as "polygamist"
A Soggy French Fry in United States of Alcohol
66)
Damn Mormon church would only grant me one prenup!!
A Soggy French Fry in United States of Alcohol
67)
"Dahling, sadly, the pen is mightier than the sword."
Kurt Knochel
68)
"Ahh, Don't Mind my husband, he always looks that way when Constipated"
Jsmith_2000
69)
Man: Either you two stop that, or else make me a sandwich!
Joshua Zev Levin, Ph.D. in Marlton, NJ
70)
"Oh Dorothy, you forgot his hemorrhoids cream again didn't you?"
A Soggy French Fry in United States of Alcohol
71)
Oh, he's always like this at tax time, Betty.
Patty
72)
"Judge, do you mean you've never married conjoined twins before?"
JOe Tully
73)
Man: Which one of you farted?
A Soggy French Fry in United States of Alcohol
74)
Don't forget, darling, since Elizabeth and I can't marry I will be receiving alimony from you for a very long time.
Tracey
75)
Woman on the right: "Don't make that face at us, good sir. As you are perfectly aware, whomever smelt it is the party that dealt it!"
DokHolocaust
76)
Well, you should have picked up your Viagra like I told you!
Ray Henderson
77)
Relax, dear. Her astrologer told her she can pay us back as soon as there is a six planet alignment in Capricorn.
Doforanimals in Southwest Florida
78)
You're right honey, she can't give me everything--she doesn't pay the bills!
BG in Sunny San Diego
79)
Woman on right - "Honey, I know you are a sad case, but please stop writing jokes in base 13."
DownCrisis
80)
Poor dear, he's just disappointed because he misheard when I told him my new friend was a notorious flapper.
Mo Holkar on 02/18
81)
Jeff dear, are you trying to pen another "God exists" response to Madd Maxx?
Madd Maxx
82)
With dawning horror, Frank realized that the second wife in a polygamous marriage was not tax deductable.
Miland
83)
Look, dear! You can move her just like a real woman, and you'll never guess where I've got my hand!
Ledasmom
84)
If you were REALLY heterosexual, dear, you'd want to join in!
Paul Cilwa in Mesa, AZ
85)
Don't worry about him, dear. Ever since his "accident" with the belt sander, he has to be content writing captions for cartoons!
Vern in KY
86)
Woman on right: Darling, I know we said we were going to have a threesome with Matilda here, but she and I have talked it over and we'd like you to leave so we can be alone together.
Chickchickaboom in Merlin
87)
Oh, Harold. When I said "Let us be gay" I didn't mean you!
Darev2005 in Midwest Hell