I was inspired by Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor to resolve against referential humor. But then I started wondering what that meant. I mean, saying "Doh!" is not really referential anymore. It's become another word. And besides, if I make a joke (yes, it's possible) about "suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," is that really something that bothers me? I think not. It's the modern mass media being used as a substitute for conversation that bothers me. Probably too much, but it's really annoying when I say something and get the response, "What's that from?" Is it so hard to think that something funny or insightful could come from a normal person, rather than a professional wit who gets paid to be so. Not only can we no longer make things ourselves for ourselves, now we can no longer come up with things to say by ourselves.