A blonde calls her boyfriend and says, “Please come over here and help me. I have a killer jigsaw puzzle, and I can’t figure out how to get it started.” Her boyfriend asks, “What is it supposed to be when it’s finished?” The blonde says, “According to the picture on the box, it’s a tiger.”
Her boyfriend decides to go over and help with the puzzle. She lets him in and shows him where she has the puzzle spread all over the table.
He studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to her and says, “First of all, no matter what we do, we’re not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a tiger.”
He takes her hand and says, “Second, I want you to relax. Let’s have a nice cup of tea, and then …” He sighed……..
“Let’s put all the Frosted Flakes back in the box…….”
I heard this joke from my roommate, who in turn received it from his girlfriend in Texas via the Internet. While I would hesitate to call it the “blond joke to end all blond jokes,” it does exhibit the paradoxical structure that is the backbone of any “good joke.” Incongruity is created by the girl’s inability to solve her “killer jigsaw puzzle,” and the punchline delivers appropriateness: the puzzle is unsolvable because it is nothing but sugary cereal. Clearly the implication is that blond females are intellectually under par.
So why is blond hair the butt of so many jokes? When I asked this of my informant, he offered the possible explanation that the jokes descend from the stereotypical blond girl as portrayed on television. I would certainly agree that films and TV shows often portray the role of attractive female characters on a superficial level. Perhaps this depiction came to be associated with blonds in particular during a past trend in fashion that valued blondness. Thus, blond jokes may represent a societal response toward the entertainment industry’s preoccupation with appearance. In essence, Hollywood gives society their version of an ideal female, and society rebels by telling jokes that belittle her wits or point out her shallowness.
It is perhaps for this reason that blond jokes seem more “politically correct” than racial and gender jokes. As they are more of a reaction to a stereotype than to a biological group, they are less likely to be offensive. I have even heard blonds tell blond jokes (neither my informant nor his girlfriend are blond, however). Fortunately, the format of such jokes also allows for manipulation of the looney character’s traits, so the jokes can be adapted to various audiences.
