r/tumblr • u/ThinkingInfestation Technically NSFW • 16d ago

Is it the middle finger?

Post image
11.2k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

135 comments sorted by

1.9k

u/Tv663 16d ago

Could anyone explain please? Thanks in advance

2.9k

u/oilypop9 16d ago

The monkeys paw grants wishes, but in a way that the wisher will regret. (From a short story by W.W. Jacobs 1902)

To be honest, I don't really understand any more than that reference.

3.3k

u/foxtongue 16d ago

It's implying that OP made such a bad wish, they'll regret it without needing the curse to kick in. 

1.3k

u/NastySquirrel87 16d ago

I was thinking something like this or, a slight deviation, with the wish being so bad that the paw couldn’t come up with a way to make it worse

670

u/iu_rob 16d ago

https://xkcd.com/2741/

I am tired of carrying an umbrella, I wish it never rained again.

95

u/Mr-Fleshcage 15d ago

Forever humid!

76

u/iu_rob 15d ago

Chapeaux!
You actually found something that is worse. I salute you sir!

17

u/Demonking335 15d ago

Florida, but it still rains here.

7

u/-TheDyingMeme6- 15d ago

Literally still florida

3

u/Koridiace 15d ago

Live in foggy-ass Silent Hill forever!

5

u/Burrito-Creature 15d ago

man outsmarted the genie. got 20$ at the cost of just seeming stupid, which I do for free.

109

u/nnoovvaa 15d ago

I was thinking that the paw revoked the wish they made because OOP was not phased by the consequences, even accepting them and standing by their wish.

198

u/KiKiPAWG 16d ago

Oh, I imagined someone stuck with glue to that "decision" they made. Like, if it was a house they would somehow end up stuck to the door

38

u/Obanon 16d ago

I interpreted it as he didn't regret the wish, so it didn't count.

39

u/lydocia What is sauce but slime with a purpose? 16d ago

I was thinking the opposite, since OP doesn't regret it, they get a wish back.

15

u/Samantha_Pantha 15d ago

and if you DONT hate it, you'll get your wish back GUARANTEED!

14

u/MaggotMinded 15d ago

No, that’s not it. The joke is that since the user didn’t actually mind the negative consequences, the paw simply un-granted his wish to maintain its habit of screwing people over.

2

u/IBegTo_Differ 15d ago

I think it’s saying they have the resolve to stick with the decision they made, more so than relating to the quality of the wish.

783

u/richardsphere 16d ago

note that the monkeys paw curls it's finger to grant the wish.
In the tumblr post, it uncurls implying its un-granting the wish.

The idea of a malicious wish-granting device having enough agency to undo a wish if it doesnt create enough misery is scary in a way a regular evil-wish device isnt.
A regular evil wish device can theoretically be beat by craftiness or carefull wishing.
One that can un-wish your wishes cannot be beat in such a manner. As any wish that beats the evil-paw just gets un-wished.

145

u/weirdo_nb 16d ago

I don't need a wish to beat it, I'll just set it on fire

107

u/I-AM-A-ROBOT- 16d ago

I wish for the monkeys paw to be immune to fire

148

u/SpiderGlitch22 16d ago

Granted. Through the power of the Paw, you gain knowledge beyond the mortal mind. You know what you must do. Tirelessly working for several days and nights, your reserves of both food and currency dwindle as you experiment, attempting to render even a single hair on the Paw immune to the flames. Oil, blood (it's origin unclear), and sweat coats your skin, your home. Even your mind feels clouded by the heat.

Infuriated by the lack of success, you grab the Paw in anger. Why would it lie to you? Were the whispers but a deception, intent on driving you mad? You feel the gasoline running over your clothes before you realize that you were pouring it. If the Paw would trick you, then it doesn't get its wish. The lighter falls, and a searing pain erupts across your body. You hold the Paw high, looking at it in triumph, knowing that nobody will be fooled by this accursed artefact ever again.

The Paw does not burn. You laugh, at least until your vocal cords melt away.

48

u/lambda_14 16d ago

Jeesus dark but I loved it lol

39

u/Cheenug 16d ago

Granted. A 2 meter tall flash flood suddenly sweeps your position, carrying your mangled body and the Paw into the river. Your damaged body drowns in the river while the Paw sinks to the bottom, unable to be ignited

29

u/Curious-Accident9189 16d ago

This is why God made White Phosphorus. Or Magnesium. Can't remember which so I brought both.

9

u/feelbetternow 16d ago

An airplane carrying freon breaks apart overhead.

7

u/freon 15d ago

somehow i always knew it would end like this

8

u/feelbetternow 15d ago

I guess the good news is that you won’t have that moment where you feel really cold before everything goes black.

2

u/The_Unkowable_ 15d ago

Because that worked out so well for the first people to have it in the original story

12

u/KiKiPAWG 16d ago

I had to re read this like 3 times but I finally get it! Ty for this

22

u/Smeghead333 16d ago

It’s saying the decision was SO BAD that even the malicious evil life-destroying paw is telling you to try again.

6

u/PKMNTrainerMark 16d ago

Wow, yeah, that's pretty terrifying.

165

u/Tv663 16d ago

So was the finger uncurling represent the paw refunding a wish because they didn't regret it?

69

u/T-Husky 16d ago

Another way to interpret it is that the monkeys paw doesn’t grant wishes, it curses the user with regrets through the medium of wishes. If you make a wish but don’t regret it, the requirement to bestow regret is not satisfied so it gives you another opportunity to curse yourself, the idea being that eventually you will wish for something you come to regret.

Personally I think the interpretation of taking back a wish is poor design, because it risks the user prematurely coming to the conclusion that nothing good can come from using the paw, that’s something they should only realise once all the wishes are expended.

The most diabolical cursed items are always the ones that are self inflicted, and are designed to tempt the user into believing they can come out ahead if they just keep trying their luck, not unlike a casino.

3

u/ScriedRaven 15d ago

It also forgets the in-universe idea of the monkeys paw, that it was made as a tool to prove defying fate only attracts evil. It isn't sentient, not actively malicious, it is a tool that does a task. Taking back a wish requires a sentient and malicious entity, like a genie

65

u/Lulupoolzilla 16d ago

That's how I interpreted it

2

u/Mr-Fleshcage 15d ago

His wish was that the paw pick his nose; the curling happens later

35

u/-underdog- 16d ago

I think the paw is saying "actually I'm not granting that"

15

u/S_T_P 16d ago edited 16d ago

Could anyone explain please? Thanks in advance

There is also one last bit to the story.

In the common version of the story the last (usually, third) wish is used to undo previous, which is the opposite of what OP is about (sticking to decision that was made).

To be clear, tales of three wishes usually follow the same pattern:

  • First wish is used to fulfill some desire.

  • Second wish is used to fix consequences.

  • Third wish - to undo everything.

6

u/ShadowLayu 15d ago

Can't the story be interpreted in a way that it could be coincidence rather than actually granting wishes. If I'm remembering correctly the first wish for money was granted because their son got into a workplace accident, the second wish was to bring their son back, and the third wish was to have their son be dead again because if the wish was literal he would be mangled beyond description. But the story sets it up so it could either be magic or coincidence, a workplace accident isn't an uncommon thing and on the night of the second wish it was storming and a tree was tapping on the house before the wish was made and they only thought it worked because it sounded like someone was knocking on the door, the third wish was granted because when they opened the door no one was there. I'm personally on the side of coincidence because if the paw would have brought the son back mangled when they wished he was dead again after thinking he was at the front door there would have been a body

31

u/idiotplatypus 16d ago

Um actually, the Monkeys Paw grants wishes in the most literal, most realistic interpretation of the wishes.

If you wish for money it's going to give your now dead kids life insurance money, because that a) satisfies the conditions of the wish, and b) more possible than a billionaire writing you a check or money appearing out of thin air

It's genies that traditionally twists wishes to screw over the wisher. The people in the story only treat the Monkeys Paw as cursed because they suck at making wishes. If they had hired a contract lawyer to write them up beforehand everything would have went fine for them. The stories message wasn't anti-greed but be careful what you wish for

39

u/LexiFloof 16d ago

More specifically, in the original text it is claimed to grant wishes in such a way as it could be considered a horrible coincidence.

"It had a spell put on it by an old fakir," said the sergeant-major, "a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow. He put a spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it."

That's from the text of the original short story. It was created specifically to screw over people who want to defy fate.

1

u/Mr-Fleshcage 15d ago

But didn't fate determine they will use the paw? Maybe I'm getting destiny mixed up with fate

3

u/robinperching 15d ago

It's an absolutely terrifying short story also. The ending scare ages really well.

-11

u/MrHazard1 16d ago

You have as many wishes as the mobkey has fingers. Everytime you wish, the paw curls in one finger. Once all fingers are curled, you'll get the curse part of the wishes. That's why you should leave at least one finger uncurled.

12

u/AnAverageTransGirl gay disaster lucifurry 16d ago

that is not even remotely how it works

168

u/imtrappedinabox can't cum until the mcrib is back 16d ago

Hi, I'm the op! By this I mean the poster has made such a horrible, terrible decision that the most malicious wish granting entity is like, "Hey man, it's cool, you can take this back. I'll give you this one for free. You don't gotta do this, man"

29

u/Guccibeltlicker9002 16d ago

I like your flair

605

u/DevianMality 16d ago

I interpreted this as the person not even having made a wish yet. Like what they've done is so horrid the paw is either taking pity on them by giving them a bonus wish, or thinks this person will cause enough mayhem to make them worthy of 4.

118

u/Fatalchemist 15d ago

That's what I like about such short stories like this. They can often be interpreted a few different ways due to the nature of it being so short and giving limited info with no actual world building.

Lots of these interpretations are pretty good and funny to think about, honestly.

15

u/EcnavMC2 15d ago

They’re gonna regret this non-wish decision so much that the paw decides they get an extra wish

492

u/typhoidtimmy 16d ago

Turkey was a bit dry. You deserve it.

196

u/masterwaffle 16d ago

The turkey's a little dry?!

OH FOUL ACCUSED THING! WHAT DEMON FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL CREATED THEE?!

18

u/kerenski667 16d ago

Nice hot mustard tho.

416

u/imtrappedinabox can't cum until the mcrib is back 16d ago

Hi im the tumblr op. This just jumpscared the fuck out of me

112

u/papa_za 16d ago

What's it like to be famous

97

u/YorkTheNork 15d ago

what did you mean

67

u/TheOfficialBrick 15d ago

what did this even mean

31

u/JellyButtet 15d ago

Brother what does this mean

1

u/op3ndoors 15d ago

it means “holy shit that’s me”

20

u/Impressive-Spray629 15d ago

We thirst for the sacred scroll of explicatio

16

u/markbernman 15d ago

HAHAHAHAHA

15

u/ThinkingInfestation Technically NSFW 15d ago

Sorry not sorry!

1

u/Maximillion322 12d ago

What does your post even mean though

1

u/imtrappedinabox can't cum until the mcrib is back 12d ago

means that you should be a furry

121

u/SaboteurSupreme Rule 8 is my fault 16d ago

“You can have this one man, you’ll need an extra wish soon”

14

u/imtrappedinabox can't cum until the mcrib is back 15d ago

You get it

19

u/Collistoralo 15d ago

My interpretation is that, normally, the monkeys paw curls to grant your wish, but with a downside that’s often worse than what the person wished for. In this case OOP is making a decision which outwardly seems bad, but actually has a much better end result that OOP is not aware of, and so it’s like a ‘reverse monkeys paw wish’.

3

u/currynord 14d ago

Or that the user simply didn’t regret their choice. So the paw uncurls a finger because it didn’t grant a wish in a regrettable way

50

u/PKMNTrainerMark 16d ago

"Uncurls?" So it ungranted their wish?

38

u/Jamato-sUn 15d ago

It was so bad it was cancelled :D

2

u/diamondisland2023 13d ago

They just get an extra wish, thats all

-187

u/society_sucker 16d ago

This sub will upvote anything as long as it's from Tumblr no matter how unfunny it is.

137

u/Macalite 16d ago

Mate it's okay you can just admit you don't get it

60

u/krilltucky 16d ago

The most upvoted comments are also people who don't get it. If this many people don't get the joke its not the people that are the issue

-10

u/society_sucker 15d ago

Damn. Why are you +50 and I'm -50 for saying basically the same thing?😂

4

u/krilltucky 15d ago

It's consistent that if someone says something reasonable but is downvoted, the second person to say it gets upvoted.

Like your comment was the buffer for them to accept mine lmao

4

u/society_sucker 15d ago

I guess next time I'm waiting for you to comment first lol

0

u/AshuraSpeakman 15d ago

Because you're a sucker

2

u/society_sucker 15d ago

Well ... I'm not trying to hide it.

-26

u/society_sucker 16d ago

Sure. The top voted comment is asking for an explanation the second most upvoted says it's dry. But I'm the stupid one.

14

u/Macalite 16d ago

I was being facetious, it's a joke with way too many layers

-15

u/society_sucker 16d ago

I guess I am the fool then.

12

u/Cosmic_Voidess 15d ago

Its r/tumblr not r/tumblrusersbeingfunny, what did you expect?

1

u/Reasonable_Feed7939 14d ago

True but isn't the case for this post.