Have you ever read the book Broken Bra Strap by Wun Hung Lo?

Have you ever read the book Rusty Bed Springs by I.P Knightly?

Have you ever read the book Race to the Outhouse by Willie Makit, illustrated by Betty Wont?

Have you ever read the book Bloody Stump by that famous Russian author, Hubitcha Kokov?

Jonathan: Well I could go on and on with those, you know. I don’t know where I picked em’ up and I know they are not the most PC little things to be saying, but people get a laugh out of em. The racial/ethnic ones are very stereotypical but there are tons and they refer to all different types of people. I guess knowing that I feel less of a desire to censor myself. Not to mention, people say German jokes to me all the time! I could give a hoot! In fact, I find them funny! And most of these are more clever than controversial I’d say.

My dad is known for his sense of humor. Growing up I used to be embarrassed by some of his ‘risky’ jokes. However, in observing his performance of these and other jokes, I have notice that he is able to maintain his audience respect. It was interesting to interview him after studying folklore traditions. His employment of these blason populare folk sayings become more about his delivery/performance of them, than about what he is saying. Thus, he manages to not be offensive through his charismatic delivery. Although, this is not always the case, viewing his delivery of these jokes with a more academic lens, helped to further highlight the importance of the lore’s performance along with the lore itself.

Additionally, these jokes clearly represent the different, more controversial, tone of my parent’s generation. Today, people are not as flippant in explicitly joking about cultural or ethnic stereotypes. The notion of ‘political correctness’ more commonly characterizing what we are taught today. However, these jokes are implicitly ‘dirty’ as well, which I believe is just as, if not more, prevalent amongst the younger generations today.