Some people are like Slinkies … not really good for anything, but you can’t help smiling when you see one tumble down the stairs.

This is a modern, anonymous joke-aphorism that circulated widely in late-20th- and early-21st-century humor culture—especially via email forwards, greeting cards, office posters, and later social media. It riffs on the Slinky, a mid-century American toy famous for “walking” down stairs, using it as a comic metaphor for a certain kind of person: not especially useful, yet oddly entertaining to watch. The line is typically presented as a standalone quip rather than as part of a longer literary work, and it is often attributed simply to “Anonymous,” reflecting its folk-humor transmission rather than a traceable first publication.

The joke hinges on affectionate insult. Calling someone “not really good for anything” is a blunt put-down, but the punchline softens it by shifting from moral judgment to spectacle: whatever their practical value, they reliably produce amusement. The Slinky image adds slapstick energy—tumbling down stairs is harmless chaos—and suggests a person whose missteps are predictable and oddly satisfying to witness. As a piece of workplace or social humor, it can function as a vent for irritation while maintaining a veneer of playfulness; read more generously, it also acknowledges that delight and levity can be a kind of value even when competence is lacking.