I think HN should be able to eschew lame attempts at Reddit-style humour whilst still welcoming good-natured enthusiastic praise!
Was it pointless? Who doesn't like to hear something pleasant said about, oh, I don't know 25 years of knowing a fun word and getting to use it in context. If praise for that bugs you then you need to find some joy in your life, because I can assure you you're wasting your time right now.
Pointless quips add something else we have to scroll past to learn anything or find something interesting. The goal is more wheat not more chaff.
"this was interesting" can be accomplished by upvoting.