Category Archives: Humor

Dog on a Nail Joke

Nationality: American
Age: 48
Occupation: Sales Associate
Residence: Salinas CA
Performance Date: April 18, 2020
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

Here is a transcription of my (CB) interview with my informant (MH).

CB: “What’s the joke?”

MH: “So there’s this little old house. And sitting in front of this little old house is an old man in a rocking chair and a dog laying out on the porch. And that dog laid in the same exact spot on the porch all day, everyday. So one day the old man had a friend over, and he’s sitting there on the porch and they’re drinking their beers in the afternoon, and the dog is laying there next to them. But the whole time that the dog is laying there he’s moaning and moaning like he’s in pain.

And the friend goes ‘Well what’s wrong with your dog, he sounds like he’s in pain?’

And the old man goes ‘He’s laying on a nail.’

And the friend goes, ‘Well why doesn’t he move?’

And the old man says ‘It doesn’t hurt bad enough yet’”

CB: “What does it mean to you?”

MH: “I think it means… I think it shows how much tolerance you can have when you’re that stubborn.”

CB: “Why do you think it’s important to share the joke?”

MH: “Because it’s stupid to lay on a nail.” [laughs]

Background:

My informant is known in our family for his jokes, and most of the family can repeat them by memory.  In our family, this joke has become heavily associated with him, and can be referenced with just one sentence. My informant’s telling of this joke is often thought to be ironic by our family, as he is known for his stubbornness. This joke is different from most of his other jokes because it has such a clear moral. For this reason, the joke is often uses in our family to make a certain point.

Context:

I called my informant on their way home from work to ask about this joke that I had heard him tell many times before. Our conversation was light and casual as we laughed about the joke.

Thoughts:

This joke is less amusing, as it is a lesson. As my informant says “its stupid to lay on a nail”. The dog is putting himself in pain for no other reason than his own stubbornness. Our family has long since laughed at the irony of the most stubborn member of the family telling the joke, however I think that it’s telling of a larger tradition in folklore. He likely tells the joke because he can personally identify with it, and wants to warn his family against repeating his mistakes. The joke is often specifically targeted at the younger generation in the family, and is referenced when someone is acting particularly hard-headed. In this way, the joke functions more as a warning, than as a source of amusement.

For another variation of this joke see Celestine Chua’s article “The Howling Dog Story” published in Personal Excellence. https://personalexcellence.co/blog/howling-dog-story/

Horror Story/Joke: The Coffin

Nationality: African American
Age: 51
Performance Date: April 21, 2020
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

The following was transcribed from an interview between the interviewer and the informant.

“Okay, so, one time when I was in the boy scouts, um, we all wanted to be told a horror story. So, the person in charge said okay, they had a story about a coffin. And it was the middle of the night. All the kids were, you know sleeping when they heard a creak. And, um, so we, everyone got up to see what the noise was, and they, you know, there was a coffin in the middle of the way, and no one know where it came from. And then suddenly, it started moving towards us. And at first, everyone just thought, okay, someone’s playing a trick. But then it just started to you know [imitates the noise of the coffin moving] ‘thump, thump, thump.’ And started getting closer to us and closer. And this is crazy, you know, so we started to run, and for some reason, we got stuck in the house. And it came in the house. [imitates noise again, ‘thump, thump’] And we were like, everyone was just stuck in a corner and was scared and didn’t know what to do. And just when it was about to, you know reach where we were, um, someone just put out a cough drop to stop the coughin’.”

Context:

I collected this piece of folklore from the informant, my father, in an interview inside the informant’s house. The informant heard this while he was in elementary school. He remembered that everyone laughed after hearing the story and afterwards, he would tell other people the story.

Thoughts/Analysis:

This “horror story” slash joke uses the play on words of coffin and coughin’ in order to fool the audience and surprise them in the end. This demonstrates a type of joke that kids are usually interested in which is word play. It also is drawing on the enjoyment of tricking an audience to believe one thing until the punchline. The mild punchline in this case also makes the story accessible to children.

Musical Joke about Oboes

Piece of Folklore:

“How do you get two oboes to play in tune?… to kill one of them.”

Context:

I collected this piece of folklore from my informant in an interview while at the informant’s house. The informant, my brother, was told this joke by his high school band teacher. My informant went to high school in California. He said that he can’t remember if he or anyone else actually laughed at this joke, but they at least smiled. My informant also told me that one of the reasons the joke was funny (and why he remembers it) was because it wasn’t what was expected to come out of a Christian high school teacher’s mouth.

Thoughts/Analysis:

This joke would most likely be unique to music folk groups especially ones that specialize in classical music where oboes are more common. Oboes are notoriously hard instruments to play in tune especially for beginners, so this joke which may seem vulgar or extreme to people outside of a music folk group could probably get a laugh from people who understand, and who possibly have heard, what oboes sound like out of tune.

Annotation:

For another version of this joke see http://uscfolklorearc.wpenginepowered.com/?p=11158

Why Do Eskimos Wash Their Clothes in Tide?

Nationality: American
Age: 70
Occupation: Health Care Worker
Residence: Alton, Illinois
Performance Date: 4/28/2020
Primary Language: English

Main piece:

(The following is transcribed from a conversation between the informant and interviewer.)

Interviewer: Can you tell me a joke?

Informant: Sure. Here’s one my mother always told me. Do you know why the Eskimos warsh their clothes in Tide?

Interviewer: Why?

Informant: It’s too cold out-tide. (laughs)

Interviewer: (chuckles) Wow. That’s uhh… that’s a good one. Do you think she got that from somewhere or do you think she came up with it?

Informant: N- She always told that joke – no she probably heard it someplace and just repeated it cause she thought it was funny.

Background: My informant was born and raised in southern Illinois to very strict Catholic parents. She has strong Irish and Italian heritage. Her mother disliked profanity in all senses, so though this joke does carry the now offensive demonym ‘Eskimo,’ it is not very risque in any sense, or directed at Inuit people for that matter.

Context: The informant is my grandmother, and has always had a proclivity for telling stories, jokes, and wives tales. This piece was selected out of many from a recording of a long night of telling stories in a comfortable environment.

Thoughts: I think the most interesting things to examine about this joke are that A) even though it’s from over half a century ago it still makes apt use of a corporate name for the central pun and B) to a devout and strict Catholic woman back in the day, words that we now understand are offensive were regarded as fit for joking. Though this woman – my great grandmother – may have never sworn I don’t doubt she had no problem with other racist or offensive names for people or groups. This is a common and interesting problem with religion as a measure of “goodness.”

Quarantine and Chill Meme

Nationality: American, Jamaican/ Nicaraguan Descent
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4.18.20
Primary Language: English

The Main Piece:

Ya so there’s Netflix and Chill which is the big basic term that went around for so long about hooking up and just hook up culture. And there’s always like a new thing with that, with Netflix and Chill, like when Disney Plus came out it turned into Disney Plus and thrust and then during quarantine it became quarantine and chill. And, I don’t remember how it originated, but I remembered just seeing like all the memes and stuff. I think the first one I saw was on Twitter. This one basketball player messaged this model “wyd” and then she responded and quoted it with “quarantine and chill?” I think that’s the first place I saw it. And then from there there’s just like all these memes about it. There’s this one meme going around about this girl and this guy and it just became popular during quarantine where this guy will text this girl and then she’ll say something back. And then, there’s a lot now that don’t have to do with quarantine, but there were a lot that had to do with quarantine . Just stupid stuff like that. 

Background: My informant is a Junior in college. She is also a major in communications and prides herself on being well connected and up to date with what’s happening online. Here she expands on some of the Covid-19 memes and sayings that have taken over social media and pop culture during this time.

Context: This conversation was happening casually at night with the group I’m quarantining with. We had just spent a good hour engrossed in our phones, consuming said content, when we decided to start sharing with each other. I asked this individual what her take was on certain memes of our time and she shared what she felt to be one of the more prominent examples.

My thoughts: It’s important to not gloss over what my informant said in terms of content changing. She stated that quarantine and chill has evolved from Netflix and Chill, but it has also involved from there, and I believe that’s super important. The idea that the masses are taking their quarantine inspired memes, and then revamping them once again to fit other relatable areas of life. In this specific pandemic, such a concept feels like a nod to what the world was like just months ago, as well as a longing for a restoration of that period. Once again, during this time people are finding creative ways to express all their emotions including lust, boredom, and fear through memes that in some way have become one of our strongest ways to stay in touch while on lockdown.