Tag Archives: humor

Joke: A Lawyer, Doctor, and an Engineer

Nationality: Polish, Luxembourgian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Performance Date: April 9, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: None

Informant: “So, a lawyer, a doctor and an engineer go golfing and they’re out there and they’re trying to play but there is this foursome in front of them who are god-awful, and they are hitting the ball but they are hitting it all over the place, sometimes it seems as if they can’t even find the ball, and their shots are just terrible. And, so the threesome, the lawyer, the doctor and the engineer, they call over the course manager and say ‘can you just help the group in front of us speed up a little bit, either that or just let us play through because this is just getting really obnoxious.’ And the course manager says, ‘oh I’m sorry you guys, but that’s Fred, Bill, Bob, and Joe and uh they are local heroes they are firefighters that saved a bunch of children from a school that was burning down uh but they all lost their sight so we try to do our part and let them play the course for free.’ And, they’re taken aback and the lawyer says, ‘oh, my god that’s awful well I’ll contact my legal firm and see if we can do anything, to help them maybe work with new resources to help them with their sight and at least help them with all the problems they must have now,’ and the doctor says, ‘oh, that is terrible, well I’ve got some friends who work with blindness research and I’ll see what they can do,’ and the engineer looks and his friends and looks at the course manager and says ‘why can’t they just play at night?’”

The informant is a young man from the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a freshman at USC and is majoring in Environmental studies. He is also an active member of his school community, participating on several club teams and is an honors student. In addition, the informant is close with his family.

The informant heard this joke from his dad, who is an engineer, when he was about eight. The informant said that his father repeats this joke often because his father finds the joke amusing.

The informant likes this joke because “I golf and my dad golfs, because its fun to listen to engineering jokes, and because my dad has that background, and probably because he tells it so often.” So, the informant also uses this joke to connect with his dad.

This joke is a form of occupational lore because it stereotypes three professions – lawyers, doctors, and engineers. This particular joke depicts engineers negatively because rather than try to find a way to alleviate the difficulties of the firefighters, as the other two professions do, the engineer is still focused on the earlier (and more self-centered) problem that the firefighters are completing the golf course slowly.

Story of Booty Itches

Nationality: African American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 28
Primary Language: English
Language: Basic Spanish

This is the story of Booty Itches. People used to tell it on the playground because it’s hilarious. There once was uh, uh, uh a little boy named Booty Itches. And, uh, on the first day of school he went to class and his mom said, uh, or his teacher said, uh, “What’s your name?” “Booty Itches,” he said. And then the teacher said, “Uuuuuh, okay, funny. What’s your real name?” And he said, “Booty Itches!” “And she said, “Okay, uuuuh, I’m getting mad now, to tell you, I’ll ask you one more time and I’ll send you to the principal’s office. What’s your name?” “Booty Itches!” So he gets sent to the principal’s office. Um, and the principal said, “Okay, son! You’re new here. What’s your name?” He said, “Booty Itches!” Uh, the principal was all like, “Haha, funny! What’s your name?” “Booty Itches!” he said. He said it one more time and the principal got mad, so sent him home. And on the way home, um, he got hit by a car, and his mom saw it. And his mom said, “Oh, my poor Booty Itches!” And the police said, “So why don’t you scratch it?”

This story is a joke told by elementary school children. The joke deals with potty humor (such as the name Booty Itches), and violent death. Both of these subjects are taboo, and potty and body humor is popular among elementary school children. As is the wordplay found in the punch line: “my poor booty itches!” Which in this case refers to a person named “Booty Itches.” Word play is popular among elementary school children, because most children at this age are still developing an understanding of words and grammar.

This maerchen also has an element of blason populaire. This joke could be a way for children to talk about how many unusual, non-English names sound like certain words in English–at times to amusing effect. The name “Booty Itches” is an extreme, and perhaps insulting, example of a non-traditional, non- English name that a character in the joke possesses. The joke also illustrates the lack of integration and acceptance children with unusual, non-English names may experience within the school system. Police, in addition to school authorizes, is unknowledgeable or unwilling to listen to or believe this student who has such an unusual name.

Children would tell this joke to friends and classmates to gain acceptance and form groups based on humor. Although children would probably hear a joke like this many times from classmates (as repeating jokes is more popular with children) each child would try to tell the story better than the others to be thought of as funny, and therefore gain popularity.

The Funniest Arby’s Commercial Ever

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student, fast food employee
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/27/13
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

In the following, my informant recounts an Arby’s commercial, which he considers to be the most noteworthy advertisement he has ever experienced.

Informant: The Guy had his Arby’s bag and then he set it down, it fell over and his hand comes out, and then they shook hands. I thought it was the funniest thing ever, it made me want Arby’s.

Me: Why’d you think it was funny?

Informant: I don’t know! I genuinely think it is one of the funniest commercials I have ever seen because I always reference it. 

Me: How do you reference it?

Informant: When I tell people like, that, “Oh I’m the one person that  laughs at commercials.” …Now I’m hungry… I want Arby’s.

This commercial is interesting as a piece of folklore, because for my informant it has come to represent humor in advertisement. He now references this commercial when making the claim that he finds advertisements funny, and remembers it as a hilarious example of advertising, which he uses as an example to prove commercials can be humorous.

Marriage

Nationality: Armenian
Age: 59
Residence: Glendale, CA
Performance Date: February 23, 2013
Primary Language: Armenian
Language: Russian, English, and French

Form of Folklore:  Humor

Informant Bio:  The informant was born and raised in Yerevan, Armenia until 1990, when she and her family moved to the United States (Glendale, California), at the age of thirty six.  Most of the folklore she has been exposed to is founded in Armenian culture.  Her social surroundings in Armenia and her father are her primary sources of folklore.

Context:  The interview was conducted in the dining room of informant’s house.

Item:  Armenian Transliteration – Mihat jahel hars ka vor shat mutahokvatsa amoosnanaloo masin.  Voroshuma vor gna ira tatiki mot vor hartser ta amoosnootsan masin.  Hartsnooma “Amoosnootsoonu vontsa?”  Tatiknel asooma iran, “Ari, nusti, bala, ameninch kasem.  Amoosnootsyan arachi tas tarin, dook amoosin yev kin k linek; myoos tas tarin, unkerner k linek; myoos tas tarin, koor oo akhper k linek, heto, yerkoo koor k linek, verchi tas tarin, k kirvek te ova mets kooru.”  Harsu asuma, “Bayts tati, du hitsoon tarits avel es amoosnatsats, ova mets kooru dzer mech.”  Tatiku juptooma oo asuma “oves kartsoom?”

English Translation – There’s a young bride who is very worried about getting married.  She decides to go to her grama to ask her about marriage.  She asks, “What’s it like to be married?”  Her grandma tells her, “Come, sit, my dear, I’ll tell you everything.  The first ten years of marriage, you will be husband and wife; the next, ten years, you will be best friends, the next ten years, you will be brother and sister, the next, you will be two sisters, and finally the next ten years, you will fight over who is the older sister.”  The girl says, “But grama, you’ve been married for more than fifty years, who’s the older sister.” The grama just smiles and says “Who do you think?”

Informant Comments:  The informant believes there is a lot of truth in this joke.  Being married for over thirty years, she thinks that the knowledge that the grandmother passed down to the young bride was very true.  She believes that, in marriage, the two people grow very close the way that two siblings would grow close.  Along with the closeness come more quarrels, hence, the fight over who is the big sister.  This folklore has become a humorous way of telling brides (in real life) about what marriage is truly like.

Analysis:  This folklore illustrates how marriage is viewed as a journey of two people who slowly evolve together and develop a close bond.  It is interesting to note that the husband is the one who becomes a sister, not the wife becoming a brother.  It seems that this is an indication that the female plays a dominant role in the relationship; especially considering how the grandmother smiles at the end of the joke and in doing so implies that she is “the big sister”.  The mild humor of what is said by the grandmother shows that even after more than fifty years of marriage, she is able to look upon her journey with her husband and find humor throughout each passing decade.

Fun Guy/Fungi Joke

Nationality: Vietnamese-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Orange, California
Performance Date: Mar 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Vietnamese

Q:  Why did the girl mushroom like the boy mushroom?

A:  Because he was a Fun-Guy (Fungi).

The informant first heard this joke when she was a Freshman in high school during one of her intense study sessions for Biology class.  She first heard it from her teacher, who was a laid back, down-to-earth, person with a great sense of humor.  It was during an after school session, when the students were all preparing for the lab practicum at the end of the year that would have a large impact on their grade when the teacher suddenly rose and said to the students, “Hey guys, lighten up. Let me tell you a joke.  Why did the girl mushroom like the boy mushroom?  Because he was a Fun-Guy.”  What made the joke more funny was the fact that the teacher was red in the face when she was telling it.  Though it is an intellectual joke only understood by those who have the elementary understanding that mushrooms are a type of fungi, she remembered it well because she thought it was a cute joke.  She retold it because she liked to use jokes to “break the ice” or make people laugh.