Joke:

There are these three guys on a road trip driving thru the country.  They run out of gas and get stranded by this farm. They decide to walk to the farm and ask to stay there for the night. They knock on the door and the farmer comes to the door, asking what they want.  They respond “our car broke down and were looking for a place to stay.” The farmer agrees and tells the first guy to go sleep in the pig pan with the pigs.  He tells the second guy to sleep in the barn with the cows. He tells the third to go sleep in the bed with his nine daughters.  The boys all go to their assigned spots and go to sleep. The next morning at breakfast the farmer asks, “How did you all sleep?”  The first guy says, “Man I stink! I feel like a pig”. The second guy says “Man I feel bloated! I feel like a cow”. The farmer then turns to third guy and says “What about you?” He replies, “I feel like a golf ball”. Farmer asks “Whys that?” The guy replies, “How would you feel if you’d been going in and out of 18 holes all night?”

Analysis:

Kahniley heard this joke told when he was at summer camp. It was a day camp for younger kids.  Kahniley was hanging out with some of his friends, going around the circle telling dirty jokes. At first he didn’t get this one because he was still learning about sex in school.  It stuck in his head though and he was able to understand it later.  He likes this joke because it was memorable to him and easy to retell.   The context in which it is performed is a group of kids or younger people. Because it could be viewed as offensive and rude, it was typically told only around males. Usually there were no girls or adults there in case of judgment.

I think this joke is pretty funny. One does have to be a little older to understand it but it is probably best that way.  Unfortunately, these types of jokes are much more popular with tweens and young teenagers.  I do not know many college students that still tell them.  I think it satisfies children’s desire to “be cool” and impress their peers.  Most kids want to be all grown up so they tell these types of jokes to make them seem mature and experienced.  It also enables them to express their repressed desires and fantasies on a canvas which is deemed socially acceptable.

This joke is typical to American society.  We like to arrange things in sequences of three. In our culture, the third time is the charm.  On a multiple choice exam is it is always best to guess the third answer when one is unsure.  Similarly, in American jokes, the third attempt is the punch line.  Before three it is too soon but after three the audience just wants to know what happens. This leads me to infer that this joke is western because not all societies go by three. Native Americans use four representing the four directions on a compass.