“We don’t bury our mistakes, we only erase them.”

I found this joke interesting because I don’t find it particularly funny, but, according to the informant, accountants enjoy the joke a lot. The joke refers to another profession: doctors. According to the informant, the joke means that doctors bury their mistakes whereas accountants only erase them. The joke seems to operate on a couple of levels. On the one hand, the joke implies a rather negative view of the field of medicine. It seems to say, well, accountants might mess up, but at least we don’t kill people when we mess up. On the other hand, the joke also indicates that what accountants do is not as serious as what doctors do. Accounting can be a very stressful job, especially during tax season, and the joke serves as a reminder that their job is not a matter of life and death. It is almost a way of comforting fellow accountants by reminding each other that if they make a mistake they can simply erase it and start over.