Skip to content

This is How You Load a Dishwasher - A Song

2012-04-13 (said on 2012-04-14 — implied: date said in the video; uploaded -1 days later) · song · Hank · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Everyday life (also: Internet & YouTube, Science & nature) · mode: Comedy & performance · tags: song or performance, self promotion, timely hook

Taking up a suggestion in The Oatmeal's comic on getting Facebook likes, Hank sings a sing-along song on how to load a dishwasher; he then argues that mocking the few people who tweeted that they didn't know the Titanic was real serves no purpose, since nobody is born knowing everything.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting; The Oatmeal's comic on getting Facebook likes suggests a sing-along video on loading a dishwasher

  • ★★ Hank says The Oatmeal's Matthew Inman posted a comic on getting Facebook likes that suggests making a sing-along video on how to load a dishwasher, so he makes one. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Facebook

00:00:14 — Song 'This Is How You Load a Dishwasher': cutlery up or down, dishwasher-safe items, scraping, heavy things at the bottom, full loads

  • ★ In the song Hank puts cutlery in the basket facing down so his hands never touch the parts that go in mouths, while others face it up so the water jets clean it better. (playful) — 00:00:26
  • ★★ The song's tips: check items are dishwasher-safe, scrape off caked-on food, put heavy things at the bottom and light ones on top, and fill the machine to save water and energy. (playful) — 00:00:53

00:01:37 — Spoken interlude: the Sun is about 400 times wider and 400 times farther than the Moon, so they look the same size; a coincidence

  • ★★ Hank says the Sun's diameter is more than 400 times the Moon's and it is 400 times farther from Earth, so both look about the same size, which is just a coincidence. (playful) — 00:01:37 · Earth

00:01:55 — Final choruses of the dishwasher song (sing-along)

00:02:15 — Hank Green shirt and fan drawing; shirt on sale for $5 off at DFTBA.com

  • ★ Hank wears a Hank Green shirt, one of his favourite designs, and says it is on sale for $5 off at DFTBA.com; he also shows a Hank Green drawing he has had since about 2008 but never hung up. (playful) — 00:02:16 · DFTBA Records

00:02:35 — Teenagers on Twitter who didn't know the Titanic was real: cultural memory, and why mocking them is pointless; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank reports that recently some teenagers did not know the Titanic was a real event and thought it was only a movie. — 00:02:35
  • ★★ Hank says many things go untaught to twelve-year-olds in American schools, such as the Battle of Hastings or the Magna Carta, and the Titanic is not top of his list of additions. — 00:02:48 · education
  • ★★★ Hank thinks people care about the Titanic because its sinking is not history to them but still cultural memory, one of those things everybody should know. (hedged) — 00:03:07
  • ★★ Hank notes that only twenty of Twitter's one hundred million active users turned out not to know about the Titanic. — 00:03:16 · Twitter
  • ★★★ Hank says the shock comes from assuming a shared cultural memory everyone can be counted on to know, but on reflection it is unsurprising: nobody is born knowing everything. — 00:03:22
  • ★★★ Hank says treating those twenty people as idiots for living different lives only makes him feel superior, makes them feel horrible and lowers his faith in humanity, all of which are bad. — 00:03:35

In the description and comments

  • ★ Hank's description says the Titanic segment addresses the 'scourge' of outrage that the world is broken because a few people tweeted something stupid, citing racist Hunger Games tweets. — video description

Humor (significant)

  • Among practical dishwasher tips, the song adds a final safety check. — 00:01:05

    “And always check to make sure that you don't wash your cat”

  • The song's last verse ends its loading instructions with how to start the machine. — 00:01:33

    “Insert the detergent, push the button with your face”

  • Mid-song, Hank breaks off to recite the Sun-Moon size coincidence, asks whether it is just a coincidence, and answers flatly. — 00:01:51

    “Is this just a coincidence? Yes.”

  • After loudly shouting that his shirt is $5 off at DFTBA.com, Hank exhales in relief. — 00:02:32

    “Feel way less sellout-y now.”

Threads in this video

  • first on record · Is outrage useful? — Hank says scorning the few people who didn't know the Titanic was real serves no purpose beyond feeling superior, hurting them and losing faith in humanity. (00:03:35)

Mentioned

Central: collective memory · Sinking of the Titanic

Also: People: Matthew Inman

Projects: DFTBA Records

Works: How to get more likes on Facebook · Magna Carta · The Oatmeal · This Is How You Load a Dishwasher

Organizations: Bosch · Facebook · Frigidaire · General Electric · Twitter · Whirlpool Corporation

Concepts: education

Places: Earth · Moon · Sun (star)

Events: Battle of Hastings

Only in the description or credits: moral outrage · The Hunger Games (book series) · Truth or Fail

Also centred on collective memory: Thoughts from a Battlefield · Make Your Art.

← Previous: Introducing Lizzie Bennet · Next → Thoughts on Romance and Sex in an Airport