Can you find this?

February 20, 2013 1:36 PM

I'm asking this for a friend in neuroeconomics. She says:

A man is looking outside a window at the 13th floor and see another man is falling. The former asks the latter "How are you doing". The latter answers: "Fine so far".

Can you help her find this comic? If not the exact comic, could you suggest any other comics that "illustrate people's ignorance to the incoming risk or uncertainty?"
posted by tickingclock to Grab Bag (8 answers total)

I don't know about the cartoon but this reminds me of a poem:

The optimist fell 10 stories
and at each window bar
He shouted to his friends
"All right so far!"
posted by bunderful at 1:53 PM on February 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

I remember this joke, probably from my childhood, as "as the man said when he fell past the Nth floor, 'so far so good'". A quick Google search on "as the man said when he fell past" (quoted) brings up at least a 1998 reference from Math Forum Discussions to the 20th floor.

I realize that everything old is new again, but your friend might want to find a more original way to express the sentiment...
posted by straw at 1:54 PM on February 20, 2013

Whoops: The Magnificent Seven, 1960:

Vin: Well, as he was falling people on each floor kept hearing him say, "So far, so good." Tch... So far, so good!

posted by straw at 1:56 PM on February 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Was this maybe a very cartoony fella on a small bit of wood with a bit in the back so it could stand up, the whole thing maybe three inches tall and nine or ten inches wide?
posted by johnofjack at 2:02 PM on February 20, 2013

This is a visual version of a similar concept (based on Russell's chicken)
posted by phoenixy at 2:50 PM on February 20, 2013

I associate it with La Haine (1995):

Hubert: Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each floor, he kept saying to reassure himself: So far so good... so far so good... so far so good. How you fall doesn't matter. It's how you land!

posted by Monday, stony Monday at 5:38 PM on February 20, 2013

I don't understand this to necessarily illustrate ignorance of uncertainty, possibly because when asked how I am I often say, "Alright so far," in order to sardonically note uncertainty.
posted by cmoj at 7:12 PM on February 20, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks for all the great answers! My friend appreciates your help, and found something she liked!
posted by tickingclock at 12:52 PM on February 23, 2013