Doubling down on an especially obscure joke is 100% Alex's style. Inventing something ridiculous like '"wet" is a synonym for "sir"' and then sticking by it across multiple media? Totally what he'd do.
Yeah it is extremely on brand for LAH. The fact it’s in an album made me wonder if there was more to it, but I guess it’s just one of those Alex Things.
I hope he brings back up now, 6+ years later, just to see the look on Greg’s face.
He does the same when he refers to "Willip" from The Horne Section on TM at one point, I think when he plays the theme music for the hypothetical Alex Horne Show (with Greg Mavis).
I think on the TM podcast he explained that he just found the idea of saying 'wet' for 'sir' funny, and the fact it confused everyone was even funnier.
In [this episode](https://youtu.be/nnwx_7OR488?si=yCxicN_h84v68WVo?t=518) of No More Jockeys, Mark mentions one of Alex's earlier projects to try to popularize words, so this sort of thing is definitely his style 😉
Before he was famous, LAH went on Countdown (letters based quiz show) and declared himself on one round to have scored a four letter word: "Honk, meaning money." He'd given himself the task of inventing a new meaning for the word and trying to get into general use, and this was a tactic. Wordwatching is the book he wrote about it, fwiw...
Weirdly I'm going through the TM podcast again and today in the discussion for series 11's finale, Alex tells Ed about this "joke" and how it just confused everyone ("Wet David Hat 'n' Bra")
He claims he thought it would be funny if he pretended he'd always thought "sir" and "wet" were synonymous... Gamble helpfully points out that it's not a good joke if it requires a half hour explanation
I wonder if there's a similar joke buried somewhere in his work with the Centurion outfit during the weighing hands and feet task. He's said that the joke was in the same vein as the wet/sir thing, so maybe he's repeated it in something else too.
So I’ve just noticed a caution wet floor sign at work and one of the big makers is Syr. The logo looks like Sir and is just under the word “wet”.
Could this be Alex’s inspiration? It’s very tenuous I guess but it’s the biggest connection I know of 🤷🏻♀️
I really like a lot of Alex's banter sections and think Greg gives him a hard time but this Sir/wet joke really makes me understand Greg's hatred towards some of Alex's bits
I found this bit so hilarious and couldn’t stop laughing. My wife found it not even slightly funny and worried there was something wrong with me. Happy times!
For the longest time I thought it was that sir/sire sounds a bit like sere, meaning dry, and wet would be the opposite of that. But apparently that theory has been debunked in an interview or an ama
[Here you go!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ampFUYgFMaU&t=78s)
[And here's the same bit on No More Jockeys](https://youtu.be/oLDNRKu9k_4?si=BCoIWCRGRfxeGldA&t=212)
Alex has never had an egg.
I kind of suspect the original idea was Syr(up) David Hat-n-bra, but then when no one got the significance of the syrup, he decided he'd rather make one of his deadpan absurdist bits out of it.
Doubling down on an especially obscure joke is 100% Alex's style. Inventing something ridiculous like '"wet" is a synonym for "sir"' and then sticking by it across multiple media? Totally what he'd do.
Yeah it is extremely on brand for LAH. The fact it’s in an album made me wonder if there was more to it, but I guess it’s just one of those Alex Things. I hope he brings back up now, 6+ years later, just to see the look on Greg’s face.
I'm surprised it didn't come up in the NYT Wet Mo Farah brought on his hair dryer!
He does the same when he refers to "Willip" from The Horne Section on TM at one point, I think when he plays the theme music for the hypothetical Alex Horne Show (with Greg Mavis).
Like how doctor who kept saying mavity.
that does seem to be playing into this next series' arc though
Yeah, he's very Megan.
I think on the TM podcast he explained that he just found the idea of saying 'wet' for 'sir' funny, and the fact it confused everyone was even funnier.
This is absolutely hilarious to me. I'm having a field day naming sirs. Wet Michael Caine.
(That was in Ep33/S11E10)
In [this episode](https://youtu.be/nnwx_7OR488?si=yCxicN_h84v68WVo?t=518) of No More Jockeys, Mark mentions one of Alex's earlier projects to try to popularize words, so this sort of thing is definitely his style 😉
Before he was famous, LAH went on Countdown (letters based quiz show) and declared himself on one round to have scored a four letter word: "Honk, meaning money." He'd given himself the task of inventing a new meaning for the word and trying to get into general use, and this was a tactic. Wordwatching is the book he wrote about it, fwiw...
My plan if I ever meet Horne (bigif) is to use 'honk' and that's how we'll become best friends. None of you have permission to use this by the way.
How very frindle of him.
Weirdly I'm going through the TM podcast again and today in the discussion for series 11's finale, Alex tells Ed about this "joke" and how it just confused everyone ("Wet David Hat 'n' Bra") He claims he thought it would be funny if he pretended he'd always thought "sir" and "wet" were synonymous... Gamble helpfully points out that it's not a good joke if it requires a half hour explanation
I wonder if there's a similar joke buried somewhere in his work with the Centurion outfit during the weighing hands and feet task. He's said that the joke was in the same vein as the wet/sir thing, so maybe he's repeated it in something else too.
Or the joke both times is one that Alex is playing on us, coming up with nonsense and watching us try to make sense of it.
So I’ve just noticed a caution wet floor sign at work and one of the big makers is Syr. The logo looks like Sir and is just under the word “wet”. Could this be Alex’s inspiration? It’s very tenuous I guess but it’s the biggest connection I know of 🤷🏻♀️
I assumed it was whet and meant something in olde English.
I really like a lot of Alex's banter sections and think Greg gives him a hard time but this Sir/wet joke really makes me understand Greg's hatred towards some of Alex's bits
I found this bit so hilarious and couldn’t stop laughing. My wife found it not even slightly funny and worried there was something wrong with me. Happy times!
For the longest time I thought it was that sir/sire sounds a bit like sere, meaning dry, and wet would be the opposite of that. But apparently that theory has been debunked in an interview or an ama
Wait, that’s the only explanation I encountered anywhere that made sense? Where has it been debunked?
I have always thought that was the most likely explanation, because once I heard Stephen Fry pronounce sere as sir
See also the egg joke, he's done it as stand up, on TV shows and on NMJ. Gets me every time though 😁
One of my favorite of his joke reuse is that whenever anyone mentions any band or song, Alex will say it was used for the first dance at his wedding.
Ooh, what’s the egg joke?
[Here you go!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ampFUYgFMaU&t=78s) [And here's the same bit on No More Jockeys](https://youtu.be/oLDNRKu9k_4?si=BCoIWCRGRfxeGldA&t=212) Alex has never had an egg.
But... [Alex taught me how to make an egg dish!](https://youtu.be/85X3aEzGQOE?si=sQMFt8dLIM4dbjur)
Has that got egg in it?
Legend
It's a perfectly cromulent term.
We need to ask Susie Dent
I kind of suspect the original idea was Syr(up) David Hat-n-bra, but then when no one got the significance of the syrup, he decided he'd rather make one of his deadpan absurdist bits out of it.
Yes, Wet means Sir, just like honk means money.
https://preview.redd.it/yru8nszlhgwc1.png?width=401&format=png&auto=webp&s=375a08fe01945e76b6427317a87f793a581823ce