Tag Archives: Joke

Odds are good

Main Piece: The odds are good but the goods are odd

“Do you think I can find a boyfriend in Alaska?”

“The odds are good but the goods are odd!”

Background Information:

This is a joke that is fairly common in Alaska because there are more men that live in Alaska than there are women.

Context of the Performance:

To understand this joke, you have to understand that there are more men who live in Alaska than women. There is also a stereotype that you have to be somewhat odd to live in Alaska and that is why it is funny.

My Thoughts:

I first heard about this joke when I first worked in Alaska in 2016 and I thought it was funny. My dad was also familiar with this joke because he used to live and work in Alaska when he was younger. I believe that this is a great oral performance because you have to be aware of the population dynamics in Alaska to understand the joke.

Not good, but slow

Main Piece: Not good, but slow

“I may not be good, but I am slow”

Background Information:

When my dad was younger and was working construction in Alaska, one of his friends who worked the same job grew up in the Soviet Union where everybody was provided a job. Because of this, it did not matter how hard you worked on the job because the job was guaranteed. Because of this, if someone was a hard worker they would make everybody else look bad because you did not need to work hard to keep a job.

Context of the Performance:

This was a joke with some truth that you would say to your employer in the Soviet Union, according to my dad’s friend, because hard workers were not well liked due to the fact that they would make others look bad.

My Thoughts:

Without the context for this joke, it is not understandable. However, once the context is filled in it becomes understandable and funny. I find it very interesting that this mentality was apparently fairly common within the Soviet Union.

Corpse

Main Piece: Corpse

“Bleeding a dead corpse”

Background Information:

The informant has heard that bleeding the living people was done a long time ago to help cure people of diseases. It never had any scientific backing and does not actually cure anybody of any diseases. So, if bleeding an alive person to cure them of a disease does not work, then surely bleeding a dead corpse will not work either.

Context of the Performance:

This is normally said to somebody who is trying to complete a task that is not possible or that is unnecessary. It is said to them because it implies that they should rethink the task that they are trying to complete.

My Thoughts:

This is a phrase that I want to use in the future because I can think of many situations where I could say this and it would hold true. However, I am unsure about how many people know what the phrase “bleeding a dead corpse” will imply because they are unaware of the historical context that is a prerequisite to understanding the phrase.

God is Bowling

Background: Informant was born and raised in Florida, where there are very frequent thunderstorms, and this was told to me in person.

Informant: My mom would always tell me whenever there was thunder in the sky that God was bowling… and there’s a lot of thunderstorms because I’m from Florida, so she said it a lot.

Me: Do you think she said it to lighten the mood or make you less afraid as a child?


Informant: Oh maybe…I never thought about it that way, but maybe? It definitely made it feel less intense thinking about bowling instead of thunder.

Thoughts: This is something that I’ve heard before and I always found it kind of funny and sweet, but the religious undertone is interesting in it as well. Being a little kid who was afraid of thunderstorms because of the loud unexpected noises, thinking of it as a game of bowling played by god definitely lightens the mood and giving a younger kid a cartoon-like image for the phenomenon of thunder can put a child at ease and even though logically it doesn’t make too much sense.

Norwegians Are Born With Skis On Their Feet

Background: Informant has a Norwegian background from his fathers’s side and was raised being told about these Norwegian traditions and holidays, and this anecdote was told to me over a FaceTime call.

Informant: Norwegians are born with skis on their feet. It’s an old Norwegian expression just because Norwegians are good at skiing and winter sports.

Me: Where did you hear it?

Informant: My great-grandma told me about it. 

Thoughts: This one is pretty self-explanatory, but there’s something funny about how straightforward it is as an expression. It is also a pretty well-known fact that Norwegian people are especially good at winter sports—they’re known in the Olympics as “the ones to beat,” and even now Norway holds the most medals in the winter olympics.