Informant: My informant, M.A., is 18 and was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. M.A. parents both work as corporate lawyers and he hopes to pursue the same career. M.A. is also a practicing Catholic and is strongly connected to his religion. He has one brother and two sisters with the family being almost fully Americanized but still hold on to some of his Syrian heritage.

Folklore: “So there is this child and his grandpa. One day the little boy sees that his grandpa is drinking some whiskey from a glass and the boy asks his grandpa, ‘Hey, can I take a sip of that whiskey?’ The grandpa responds by saying, ‘Does your dick touch your asshole?’ The little boy answers back and says, ‘No.’ The next day the little boy sees his grandpa smoking a cigar and boy asks his grandpa, ‘Hey, can I get a puff of that cigar?’ And again the grandpa responds by saying, ‘Does your dick touch your asshole?’ Again the little boy responds, ‘No.’ The next day the grandpa sees the little boy eating a plate of freshly baked cookies and the grandpa asks the boy, ‘Hey, can I have one of your cookies?’ The little boy responds and says, ‘Does your dick touch your asshole?’ The grandpa smiles and replies, ‘Yes.’ The little boy looks up and says, ‘Then go fuck yourself!’” Surprisingly, M.A. was told this story from his grandma who said it was her husband’s favorite joke when they were younger. He says that he only tells the joke with a group of guys but is definitely one of his favorite dirty jokes he has ever heard.

Analysis: I loved the joke and the way M.A. performed it. I was shocked to find out when he told me his grandma told him the joke because that would probably be the last person who you would expect to tell you a joke like that. For me, I am a huge fan of guy/dirty jokes but I do believe there is a time and place for every joke and I probably wouldn’t tell this joke in front of girls.

Informant: My informant, L.K., is 19 and was born in New York but raised in Dubrovnik, Croatia from age 5 to 18. L.K. father is working for a tourist agency and part time water polo referee and his mom is a financial manager for a restaurant in Croatia. He has a younger brother and sister with his family being fully Croatian, but has integrated small values from his time in the United States.

Folklore: “There is a black guy, a white guy, and an Asian that all get kidnapped and are being held against their will. The man who kidnapped them tells the three men that he will let them go on the condition that the size of their penis’s put together must me 20 inches or bigger. So the black guy whips it out, and it’s a whopping 13 inches! The white guy decides to go next and pulls his out. It’s a solid 6 inches. The Asian guy pulls his out last and its only one inch. The kidnapper, making good on his promise, lets the three men leave. On the way out the black guy says to the other two men, ‘Man, you guys are just lucky that I have such big dick.’ The white guy then says, ‘No, you guys are just lucky that I have such an average sized dick.’ And then the Asian guy says, ‘No, you guys are just lucky I had an erection.’” L.K. was told this joke from a tour guide when he visited Jamaica over winter break. Similarly, this joke was told in the presence of only men at night after the tour was over. L.K. said they would drink and tell jokes after the end of each day and was a nice way to end a long day.

Analysis: This joke is a classic variation of three guys walk into a bar joke. The joke focuses on the stereotype of the length of penis varies by nationality. Again, I’m fan of guy jokes and this was the best dick joke I think I’ve ever heard.

“So this guy is terrified of flying…uuuuum really scared of flying and ummm…. one day he’s on a plane coming from ummm…. Beijing back to the United States…. he…ummmm… asks the pilot before he gets on the plane. He’s like ‘what do I do if the plane’s crashing’ and the pilot is like ‘jump off and pray to Buddha’ and the guy is like ‘Alright fine, I’ll jump off and pray to Buddha if it…starts crashing’ so…ummmm… he is on the plane and suddenly the plane starts going haywire. it’s gonna crash and the guy is like ‘oh no, what’s gonna happen’ and he then remembers what the pilot said and he…jumps off the plane and starts praying to Buddha. he starts going ‘oh god Buddha, please save me, please save me’ and then….suddenly a huge hand comes up….out from the sky and grabs the man and he is saved. and he gets safely put down on the ground. everything is fine. and the man is like ‘aw man thank god’ and then buddha’s hand smashes the man…I didn’t tell the joke very well but…”

This joke seems to not be based on any malice towards any religion but rather be about religion in general. The point of the joke is that when we refer to God in our everyday colloquialism we are talking about the Judeo-Christian god and buddha obviously not having the credit for it is angry at the man. The joke is seems to not really reflect any culture in that sense. Also the joke is much funnier to hear in person as the teller of the joke mimes Buddha’s hand saving the innocent man and later crushing him to death.