“Hey, Tron,” Flynn says, and he winks. “Working hard or hardly working?”
Tron’s grin becomes one of confusion. “I’m… working hard? At least I hope so?”
“No, it’s”—Flynn sighs—“it’s just a User turn of phrase. Just—it’s funny.”
“Funny,” Tron repeats skeptically.
“Yeah. Funny.”
“Then I don’t get it.”
“Obviously.” Flynn shakes his head and decides to drop the subject. “Anyway, what are you up to?”
“Minor surveillance,” Tron replies. Minor because, as Flynn knows, the kind of… intimate surveillance Clu prefers makes him extremely uncomfortable. “The gridbugs haven’t been acting up as much lately. Anti-ISO activity’s been down, too, probably because of the downturn in gridbug attacks. Besides that, things have been running smoothly.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Yeah.” Tron pauses. When he speaks again, he sounds a little concerned. “Flynn, I still don’t get why it’s funny.”
“What, you mean the—oh my god.” Flynn sighs again. “Okay, so, it’s a juxtaposition made up of the same words.”
“Okay.”
“And changing those words slightly changes what they mean.”
“Okay.”
“So—working hard. Means you’re, you know, working hard.”
“I get that.”
“Now you rearrange those words, change them a bit—hardly working.”
“All right.”
“So…”
“Working hard or hardly working,” Tron states flatly.
“Yeah, exactly! See? It’s funny because—”
“It’s a juxtaposition.”
“Yes, because it’s a juxtaposition!” Flynn exclaims. “So do you get it now?”
“No,” Tron replies.
Flynn sighs yet again. “You know what? That’s fine. Nobody finds it funny, anyway.”