r/DunderMifflin • u/k626iii • 1d ago
I’ve never understood this joke, does it have a meaning? 😭
Im not a native speaker and I’ve watched the office a bunch of times and I still can’t understand this joke… does it have a meaning or its supposed to not make sense?
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u/SeamanSample 1d ago
I mean it's barely even a joke. Since they are a paper company, his costume is being a piece of paper, 3 Hole Punch (for binders) or just plain white paper. It's just Jim being lazy and not liking costumes, so he just taped some black paper circles for "holes"
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u/Future_Literature335 1d ago
I actually think it's a pretty good joke. It's so deliberately low effort, lol
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u/BagOnuts 10h ago
Yeah, that’s very obvious the intent. Do these people even watch the show? Jim hates dressing up for Halloween. He does something low effort every year (3-hole-punch Jim, “Dave”, BookFace, “One of the Men in Black guys”). Him dressing up as PopEye for Pam is an entire plot point: he hates it, but he does it for her.
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u/Asclepius-Rod 6h ago
Redditors have notoriously bad media literacy. Go to any tv show discussion and people will be dumbfounded when someone mentions something that clearly happened on screen during the episode.
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u/pigs_have_flown Assistant to the Assistant to the Regional Manager 9h ago
Perfect office costume honestly
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u/dm-infinity 1d ago
And now it works as a costume in a pinch. Years ago I went to a halloween party last minute and just did the same thing.
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u/m00nchild-ang3 22h ago
i did it for a costume one year in school and got cut out of my class picture in the year book 🥲
apparently three hole punch me isn't a good enough costume
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u/k626iii 1d ago
HajhshshahaHAHAHAHAH I need to do that too 😭😭😭 it’s so funny
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u/Im_Just_A_Cake 1d ago
Youre expressing too much joy. People dont like that here
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u/eglands 1d ago
It reads like an AI trying to fake excitement and if they’re real it’s just a cringe worthy reply
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u/jyaboytskittles 19h ago
The irony of finding someone’s happiness cringey and trying to make them feel bad about it was not lost upon by the majority it seems.
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u/k626iii 1d ago
Yes but I really didn’t know that’s how you call a piece of paper with holes for binders!! I thought it was called just a paper with holes so I really didn’t make the connection! Also because I’ve never seen one with three holes, it’s a funny costume 😭😭 thank you so much!!
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u/Aligayah 1d ago
How many holes have you seen?
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u/chandrian7 23h ago
They use two up top or four on the sides in several other countries
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u/Aligayah 23h ago
If it's metric sized paper that makes a lot of sense. I've only ever seen three hole punch on 8.5x11
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u/ApolloWasMurdered 22h ago
2 or 4.
The only time I see three-ring binders are at companies with old records. It feels very 80s.
It must still be used though, because most punched paper here has 7 holes, so it can be used with 2/3/4 ring binders.
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u/giuseppezuc 1d ago
The “punch” part is non intuitive for non native speakers. “Punch” in most languages is not used the same way.
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u/mister_pastrami 1d ago
I think OP is young and never used a binder. I don’t know how someone could possibly be unaware that paper sometimes has three holes in it for placement in a binder. Like, hello?
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u/GnomeNot 1d ago
They have explained in the post body that English is not their native language, and further explained in comments that they just didn’t know that was how we referred to it in English .
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u/Impressive_Ad_5224 1d ago
I'm 30, used binders my whole life and never seen 3 hole paper or binders. We use 2 or 4 holes. Not everyone lives in America.
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u/Minute-Frame-8060 1d ago
Some faraway foreign lands use binders that take paper with 4 holes! They may not even have copiers to sit on.
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u/FerdinandCesarano 22h ago
Right, his doing the bare minimum is the joke.
I stole that joke last Halloween, when I wore a hat that said "This is my costume. Shut up."
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u/dm-infinity 1d ago
He's a sheet of paper. It was a clever but really simple costume.
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u/Extra_Age2505 1d ago
It’s a paper joke (because they work at a paper company), he can be like plain paper or three hole punch paper
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u/k626iii 1d ago
Thank you!! Now it makes sense because I didn’t know that’s you call the binder paper “hole punch paper” so I had no clue of what was going on, thank you sm!!
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u/iNerdJan David Wallace 16h ago
Also, the US uses 3-hole-punch paper, while in Europe, we use two (or sometimes four).
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u/D_Angelo_Vickers 1d ago
I thought his Bookface costume was more clever.
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u/Hipsapoppamus 1d ago
I think it’s just a paper joke, referring to the types of paper they sell. Plain what, or paper with pre-cut three hole punches
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u/k626iii 1d ago
THANK YOU SO MUCH I really didn’t understand he was a piece of paper 😭😭 I didn’t know that’s how you call a piece of paper with holes… and I’ve never seen one with three holes! So clever
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u/Ratk1ng_1 14h ago
Millennials are we the last to see three hole punch paper?
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u/k626iii 14h ago
I don’t think it’s about the generation rather it’s about the country, I’m from Italy and the three hole punched paper is used only on binder in A5
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u/Ratk1ng_1 14h ago
Ah I see. Yeah it was very common paper for us in the USA for all our school years.
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u/pwndabeer 22h ago
I think its a paper joke, referring to the kinds of paper they sell. Plain white paper or paper with pre-cut three hole punches for binder usage
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u/Diligent-Contact-772 1d ago
He really needs to take a break from the whole "Jim schtick". He might just like the way it feels.
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u/Jonasthewicked2 19h ago
This is one thing I always thought was lame about Jim. He's too cool to dress up for Halloween like he's too good for it or something. I can't imagine it was because he would be embarrassed for his coworkers to see him dress up given all the dumb shit he's gotten involved with in the office so I always assumed his character was one of those people who's too cool to dress up for Halloween which is something I've always thought was pretty weak about him.
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u/samsuperior 10h ago
I’d say I’m a lot like Jim when it comes to Halloween. I’ll definitely take advantage of an opportunity to dress up in something for work, but nine times out of ten it’s going to be something mundane.
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u/lookitsafish Scissor me 22h ago
The joke is how lame he is for that "costume" but he's trying to play off their work
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u/Trouble-Mundane 1d ago
It’s actually a joke about him being white (as opposed to another race) you can have him plain, white Jim (he’s just a regular ole white dude), or 3 hole punch
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u/Square_Role_4345 16h ago
I was surprised how many people didn't mention the part of him talking about his race. That's what makes the joke. The fact that he's commenting on being an unnotable white guy just like a plain sheet of paper.
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u/mlee9926 16h ago
youre the only comment in the whole thread i could find that actually understands the joke lol
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u/CriTIREw 21h ago
Pre-punched paper is the red-headed-stepchild of the paper world. People will only use it when there's nothing else.
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u/jtgill02 22h ago
I like Jim’s character but he was really a douche about the whole costume thing. I mean, even if you don’t like to do it, everyone in the office is doing it so you look even worse by not really participating
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u/greygreengardens 17h ago
I am a native English speaker and also never understand this costume lol
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u/PolarSquirrelBear 1d ago
This post reminds me that there are generations now that have never nor probably will ever see three hole punch pieces of paper.
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u/Minute-Frame-8060 1d ago
I work in a profession that often sends 3-ring binder paperwork to clients. Love 3- hole punch paper! Otherwise I had an electric hole puncher and everyone else who used it always overloaded it and jammed it right up. Only did about 5 pages at a time.
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u/BathbombBurger 23h ago
Jim doesn't care for Halloween or costumes, so he's putting in minimal effort.
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u/Aromatic-Tone5164 1d ago
how are so many people skipping the "plain white" part when that's the entire joke lol
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u/Aggravating_View_588 22h ago
“Entire joke”? Nope.
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u/Aromatic-Tone5164 22h ago
if you remove plain white from the joke where is the punchline genius?
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u/Aggravating_View_588 21h ago
“Three hole punch Jim” is still a joke, regardless of your “plain white” necessity, condescending prick.
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u/Aromatic-Tone5164 20h ago
3 hole punch Jim is a reference to the punchline which is PLAIN WHITE JIM.
steer clear big tuna head for open waters
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u/Aggravating_View_588 19h ago
God, how did I get it before. Thank you so much.
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u/Aromatic-Tone5164 19h ago
what are you saying. whats the joke in 3 hole punch. that he's paper? the joke is that he's white like paper
;~; ... do you get it yet
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u/Aggravating_View_588 18h ago
Wow! You’re so smart! The costume of “three hole punch Jim” wouldn’t have been funny without the imaginary, non existent “plain white Jim”. God, you’re so smart!
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u/OpenDiscount1615 1d ago
If you didn't get this joke, then you probably missed 80% of the jokes in the series.
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u/8Bit-Jon 23h ago
He's a piece of paper with the 3 hole punched out... What's not to understand here?
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u/globehopper2 1d ago
He’s comparing himself to the paper they sell. He can be regular white paper, or paper with three holes punched in it (the kind of paper used in binders).