Ha ha only serious
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The phrase ha ha only serious (often seen abbreviated as HHOS) is applied especially to parodies, absurdities, and ironic jokes that are both intended and perceived to contain a possibly disquieting amount of truth, or truths that are constructed on in-joke and self-parody.
The phrase aptly captures the flavor of much hacker discourse. It originated as mutation of HHOK, "Ha Ha Only Kidding".
The Jargon File, or Hacker's lexicon, contains many examples of ha-ha-only-serious in both form and content. Indeed, the entirety of hacker culture is often perceived as ha-ha-only-serious by hackers themselves; to take it either too lightly or too seriously marks a person as an outsider, a wannabee. See also "hacker humor", and "koan" entries in the Jargon File.
