Q: What do you tell a woman with two black eyes?

A: Nothing, You already told her twice.

Q: What does a woman with a broken arm, a black eye, and two cracked ribs do?

A: The dishes if she knows what’s good for her.

The man whom I collected this piece from asked that I not attach his name to the jokes.  He is a social worker for Los Angeles county.  He says that he heard the jokes from coworkers as they finished paperwork in his office.  The men were discussing a domestic abuse case that resulted in the removal of a young child from his home.  Although he says that he laughed at the jokes when they were told, he claims that they would probably have gotten him in trouble with his superiors if the men had been overheard.

The informant stated that there are very few men in the field of social work.  Because he and the other two people in the room, including the individual who told the joke, were all men, the teller probably felt comfortable enough to assume that none of them would be offended.  He said that he does not agree with the jokes, and he would not find the subject funny at all in a real life situation.

These jokes are a great example of conversations that only arise when one is within a comfortable and familiar social group.  The informant describes the situation as a group of men within a field dominated by women.  Because the men realize that they are a minority group in their field, they would not dare to tell the joke in front of their female coworkers.  Spousal abuse is also a taboo subject in popular culture.  This is coupled with the fact that the men work in a field where it is often their job to interact with and protect women and children in abusive situations; therefore, the jokes would be deemed inappropriate by anyone outside of the group who might overhear them.  The fact that the subject of the jokes is taboo also adds to their appeal.  It is common that we find humor in situations that would be deemed politically incorrect simply because of the likelihood of the item to offend.  This is often exemplified by the telling of ethnic or racial jokes.

Q: Why can’t Stevie Wonder read?

A: Because he’s black.

The informant asked that I withhold his name from the project.  He told me that he heard this joke in high school from another student.   He was about 15 or 16 years old when he heard it.  The individual who told him the joke was a white student.  He said that he was offended when he heard the joke because it made him feel that his white classmates were getting to comfortable with him. He happened to be one of the few minority students in upper level classes, and the majority of his classmates were white.  He asked me not to attach his name to this piece because he feared that he would be viewed as condoning racism and bigotry by sharing the joke.

The joke itself combines more than one taboo in its telling.  It expresses long held stereotypes about black people as uneducated and illiterate.  The other politically incorrect topic that this joke touches upon is mocking the disabled.  It is generally known that it is unacceptable to make disparaging comments about the condition or abilities of those who have physical or mental handicaps.

This joke once again exemplifies the lure of taboo.  The individual thought that the joke was funny because of the taboos it addressed, whether or not he agreed with the stereotype or the derogation of Stevie Wonder and his disability.  The situation in which this joke was shared is a very interesting one.  Although the informant is a part of the group being disparaged in the joke, the teller believed that because they were both part of a specific social group, the informant would not be offended.  This illustrates the ability of any one of us to play a role in several different definitive groups at once.  The informant stated that his identity as a member of his racial group conflicted with his identity as a member of the social group that he was involved with at school.  This was often manifested by jokes such as this one, which his peers seemed to enjoy more that he did.

A woman dies in a car crash and is sent to her judgment at the gates of heaven.  After St. Paul decides that she lived a virtuous life, she is allowed to enter heaven.  One of the other angels approaches her and offers to take her on a tour of heaven.  He shows her the greatest restaurants, the best theaters, the hottest clubs, the amusement parks, and all the best of heavens attractions.  Suddenly she notices a building with a long line out in front.  As they get closer she hears shrieks of pain and agony.  She asks what’s inside and the angel says:

“That is the room you must enter to become an angel.”

The screaming gets louder and more anguished.  So she asks what is happening inside.  The angel replies:

“First they drill holes in your head to hold your training halo in place, then they drill holes into your back to put your wings in, and finally -”

She stops him before he can finish and tells him that she would like to be sent to hell.  He says:

“You realize that if you are sent to hell you will be tortured, raped and sodomized daily?”

The woman answers: “Yeah, but I already have the holes for that.”

Ariel told me that she heard this joke from a coworker during their break at Taco Bell.  This joke once again deals with social taboos.  It was told among a group of individuals in their late teens to early twenties.  The focus of the joke is somewhat sexual in nature.  It also comments on death and the afterlife.  The joke is one that would not likely be told around anyone outside of one’s immediate age group.