“Jim has been good his whole life.  He has always done the right thing, treated people the right way, and been an all around decent person.  One day, God came down from heaven and wanted to reward Jim for all the good that he has done in his life.  God says to Jim you can have whatever you want because you have done good things in your life and I want to reward you for this.  Jim thinks about it for a while and goes, ‘you know what, I want a freeway from California to Hawaii because its my favorite place on earth and it would be so much easier to drive there’.  God says, ‘Jim that is impossible, you don’t understand the work it would take to make that happen.  Can I grant you another wish’.  Jim is disappointed but understands.  He then goes on to say, ‘you know what I really want, my wife to understand me.  I want her to know why I come home from work and watch football all night, and why I don’t pick up on her subtle hints.  God…I want to know how woman think’.  God pauses, looks down at Jim and says, ‘so how many lanes would you like that highway’.”

Jared learned this from a friend in his fraternity earlier this year.  He said the joke occurred in a setting when him and a few of his friends were just relaxing after a long week of school.  At the end of the joke Jared admitted that while he was pretty sure that was how the joke was to be told, he was not positive.  He said after he had heard the joke the first time several other versions had been told to him that were slightly different.

This is a great joke that plays off of the comical situations of men being unable to understand woman.  In this case we see even God, the creator of mankind, unable to explain to Jim how woman think.  The joke also does a good job at setting a good plot for the kicker at the end of the joke.  The key with telling this joke successfully is in the timing and if done improperly the joke could be ruined.

Another point to notice when the joke was over, Jared felt the need to tell me that he had heard different versions and wanted to assure me that he had heard others.  In his opinion he felt that the first version he had heard first was the original and each other version came from someone else’s modifications.  While he might think this to be true in actuality there is no one right version and the joke will continue to change as it gets passed from one person to the next.