Tag Archives: Joke

“Better than a punch in the nose!”

Text: “Better than a punch in the nose!”

Minor Genre: Folk Speech – Simile

Context:

M said, “My grandmother would always say that [proverb] whenever we would complain about something that we didn’t like. She lived through the Depression, and I think she grew up fairly poor. There are a lot of those proverbs and euphemisms about ‘hard work’ from her generation.”

Analysis:

This piece of folk speech reminds me of the saying, “I’ll give you something to cry about.” They both are used to shut down a complaint with the implication that the situation at hand could be made worse, and therefore it is not something to complain about. I think my father [M] is probably correct about its popularity within the generation that lived through the Depression; in trying to raise the subsequent generations who did not need to endure the same levels of hardship, it is likely that those who lived through the Depression shared a mindset that the newer generations didn’t have anything to complain about, as they had not experienced true struggle.

I heard this phrase a few times growing up from my grandmother (M’s dad). However, she would always use it in a comedic tone, getting people to laugh while accepting the situation at hand rather than interpreting the phrase as a true threat of physical abuse.

“Why did the chicken cross the road?” … “Because it was stupid.”

Text: “Why did the chicken cross the road?” … “Because it was stupid.”

Minor Genre: Joke, Anti-Humor

Context:

M said, “When my oldest daughter B was three, she told this joke, and everyone thought it was hilarious. She was telling it to my dad and she was trying to tease him back for all of the teasing he was doing to her.”

Analysis:

Although I don’t remember my original telling of the joke, this joke has been repeated frequently over the years in my family, its hilarity stemming from the idea that someone – a three year old girl, no less – had finally put my joke-loving grandfather in his place. I grew up hearing jokes all of the time from my grandfather, who loves to tease people. This joke arose likely as a combination of frustration about hearing the same joke one too many times and a desire to make him laugh.

It is interesting to look at this joke outside of my familial context, as it serves as an example of “anti-humor.” Anti-humor is a branch of humor that relies on irony and reversals in order to create a surprise factor within an already-familiar joke. This is ironic, because the traditional form of the joke (“Why did the chicken cross the road?… To get to the other side.”) is already seen as an example of anti-humor. The listener expects a funny punchline, but instead receive a flat statement about what is logical. In turn, my family’s joke is an anti-anti-humor: the listener expects the traditional answer, “to get to the other side,” and instead receives an abrupt quip: “because it was stupid.”

Two priests driving down a freeway

JM is a current student at USC and a very funny guy.  He is a comedian and is pursuing a career based on writing and comedy. He is Jewish and is from LA. 

“Two priests are driving down a freeway, a cop pulls up behind him, flashes his lights, and pulls him over. He gets out of his car and walks up to the priests and they roll down their window. The priests say ‘Can we help you officer’ and the officer goes ‘Yes gentleman, we’re looking for two child molesters.’ And the two priests look at each other, and then look back to the officer and go ‘we’ll do it”

JM- When I was in High School one of my friend’s dad was a comedy writer, and he told me this joke that I remembered forever. I thought it was funny the first time I heard it, but it became a lot more important to me after I got to use it as social currency.  My sophomore year of college, some buddies and I were trying to get into a frat party, first and last time, and uh, there was a bouncer at the door trying to charge for the party and we didn’t want to spend any money so the bouncer said ‘ well, if you tell me a joke that makes me laugh I’ll let you in for free’ and I told him this joke and he didn’t laugh but he just looked at me and nodded and let us walk inside. That was the only time a joke has saved me money.

ANALYSIS: This joke works well not only because of its very sudden and dark punchline but also because of its use of the Catholic Church priests as the punching bag. The structure of the joke doesn’t go exactly where one would expect, which gives it a memorable factor. Jokes about the Catholic church’s abuse of children have become exceptionally popular for many reasons. One reason is that joking about dark history and trauma makes it easier for people to talk about it. Many people wouldn’t know about the abuses of the Catholic Church if it weren’t for the commonality of these jokes. Furthermore, it’s easy to make jokes about pedophilic Catholic priests because there is a lack of remorse. Nobody has empathy for pedophiles, especially not when they come from a privileged position. The popularity of jokes about pedophilic Catholic priests work not only as humorous releases of trauma but also helps keep generations informed of these historical precedents.

Joke About A Moneylender

A man from Mexico borrowed money from a wealth rancher who would lend with high interest rates. The man went to work in the U.S. and there he had hoped to make some money. He told one of his friends that he wanted to buy a meat grinder. His friend, confused, asked why and to that the man responded: “to kill that s** of a b****”. 

This story was one told at a party where people would sit by a campfire, put some old music on a record player whilst drinking beer. My dad probably heard it from one of his cousins who was likely drunk.

 I thought this story would be a story about a hardworking man pursuing financial stability, but when I heard the part about the meat grinder I was shocked and burst out laughing. I remember a time when I visited the place my parents were from, in Mexico, and whilst walking around my dad pointed out an abandoned house, of a bitter old family who were wealthy, cheap and bitter who also lent money. I couldn’t help but think if they were the inspiration for this joke told not too far from where they lived within a gleefully intoxicated gathering. 

Funny Burmese Pun

Nationality: Burmese

Primary Language: Burmese

Other Language(s): English, Chinese

Age: 19

Occupation: Student

Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Performance Date: 02/17/2024

A.N is 19 years old, and is currently a USC student who’s originally from Yangon, Myanmar. She is my current suite mate and has been a friend since middle school, since we are from the same hometown and school. I asked her if she uses or is familiar with any sayings, proverbs, jokes or folk speech within our culture. 

“Yes, when I was really young, probably when I was like in my elementary years, my family members said this saying to me really often. It’s a really funny saying, you probably know it too. Whenever I would trip or hurt myself, they say “ချီတုံးမတ်တတ်ထ ခဏနာကြပြောက်” (pronounced as “chi tone ma ta hta, kana naa kyaut pyaut”) *laughs*. It directly translates to “Poop stand up, in a bit, it won’t hurt anymore”. I think my older family members said this as a joke to make me laugh and distract me from crying out of pain right after I trip. Obviously, the saying is absurd and doesn’t make sense, but to a kid, it’s a really funny image to be distracted by. They don’t say it anymore to me because I’ve grown up but they have said it to my sister when she was younger too.”

Since I am also Burmese, I’ve heard this folk speech before. I don’t remember it being said to me, probably because I was too young to remember, but they’ve said it to my younger brother as a child. It sounds pretty jarring in English but it makes a lot more sense in Burmese, since the sentence flows like an alliteration. On top of just a joke, I interpret this folk speech as a clever word play in Burmese language, and is used by protective parents that cherish their children.