Tag Archives: Joke

Golf Joke

Nationality: Canadian
Age: 64
Occupation: Mom
Primary Language: English

Folklore Piece 17:

 

Main Piece: Joke

 

My mom is a big golfer, and finds golf humor hilarious:

 

“George was just returning home from his weekly game of golf. When he stepped inside, his wife asked him how the round went.

‘It wasn’t great today,’ George said, ‘On the first tee, Frank dropped dead from a heart attack.’

‘OH MY GOD!’ cried his wife, ‘That’s horrible!’

George replied, ‘Yeah, you’re telling me! The rest of the round it was; hit, Drag Frank, hit, Drag Frank…”

 

Background:

 

My mom Laurie loves to golf, and she actually has a group of friends she goes and plays a round with once a week. They are a more so laid back group of golfers and do it for the fun of the game, and never really stress over the score, they just go out to have fun with friends. Golfing is like this in my family as well, because we are all about the same skill level, but it doesn’t get to be fun anymore once there is competition.

My mom’s friend told her this joke when they were out golfing one day, and my mom still uses it to this day when we get out to golf. Because golf is such a big part in my mom’s life, she tends to find humor in those things that not most people would necessarily get.

 

Context:

 

Like I had said earlier, my mom’s friend told her this joke when they were out golfing one very hot day when they were out golfing, and they decided to play at a course that does not allow golf carts, so they had to walk the round. Walking the round is much more tiring compared to using carts, and after the first hole my mom’s friend tells her this joke as a kind of way to say “Hey, things could be worse.”

My mom has only used this joke once or twice with me while we were golfing, and that is generally the only context it would come up in, as it doesn’t really apply to any other situations.

 

My thoughts:

 

I had heard this joke before my mom retold it to me, and the only times were on the golf course as I said. I remember it being pretty funny the first time because we were all laughing at how sweaty and out of shape we were on the course. She used it a while later the next time we golfed and it just wasn’t that funny this time so it is more of a joke you use once.

I enjoy golfing so I like this joke as long as it’s not over used. I think it is rather crude, but I like sports jokes that you need an understanding of the game to understand.

Watermelon Tai Chi

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 55
Occupation: Funeral Counselor
Residence: Arcadia, CA
Performance Date: March 12, 2017
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

Daniel is an immigrant from Hong Kong who immigrated to the United States in search of better opportunities and a better life for both him and his family. Living in a poor family with seven other siblings, he immediately went to work as a police officer after receiving his high school diploma in Hong Kong. Once he moved to Los Angeles, he worked as a computer technician, and subsequently, changed his career to a funeral counselor.

Original Script

I don’t know whether it’s true or a joke—I believe it’s a joke. For a tai chi master, he had a hard time to teach his disciple how to do the beginning steps of a sort of tai chi kung fu. Right now, I will illustrate in English:

“One big watermelon. I cut it into two halves. This half I give to you, you don’t want it, I take it back. And the other half I give to you, you don’t want it too, I take it back.”

And those are the steps of the beginning.

Background Information about the Performance from the Informant

The informant heard about this tale from his friends during passing period in high school. His friends were taking tai chi at the time and demonstrated the moves of the watermelon tai chi to him. He believes the story is a joke, rather than the truth, because both the moves and the chant are humorous.

Context of the Performance

I interviewed the informant at his house.

Tai chi is an internal form of Chinese martial arts used for its health benefits and defense training. Several styles of tai chi have developed over time; the five most common ones today are the Chen, Sun, Woo, Wu, and Yang styles. There are a few who believe that the watermelon tai chi was created because both tai chi and watermelons promote similar properties, such as improved blood circulation.

My Thoughts about the Performance

I first learned of this watermelon tai chi in my high school Chinese class. The teacher taught our class the moves and the chant; however, she did not mention that this form of tai chi was a joke, like the informant. When I performed the watermelon tai chi alongside the informant, I found the movements quite calming, but saying the chant in Cantonese was very amusing.

The Coffin

Nationality: Syrian
Age: 52
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 11, 2017
Primary Language: Arabic
Language: English

A man asked Juha: “What do you think is better, to walk behind a coffin, or in front of a coffin during a funeral?”

Juha replied: “Be wherever you want, except inside that coffin.”

Background information: This is a popular joke heard throughout the Middle East, starring a recurring character, Juha.

Context: The informant told me this joke in a conversation about folklore.

Thoughts: This is quite humorous, a bit of dark humor. It deals with funerals, but makes a joke out of it, saying the worst place to be at during these events is inside a coffin (because that obviously means you’re dead!).

A Joke with no Punchline

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Investment Banker
Residence: Manhattan, New York
Performance Date: 4/6/2017
Primary Language: English

 

Informant:

Daniel is a first year analyst at a prominent Manhattan based investment bank. He grew up in Northern California from a predominantly irish background

Piece:

The first party I ever went to was kinda a bummer. I was invited the day of and was stressed cause I had nothing to wear. So I went to the mall and picked out a shirt and waited in the checkout line. But then I was hungry so I went to wetzel’s Pretzels and waited in the pretzel line. And then later that night I showed up and waited in the party line to get in. And then when I finally got I went to get a drink but there was no punchline.

Collector’s thought’s:

This joke takes a while to develop and is paradoxical in nature. The first person aspect of it makes it so that the audience can not tell that it is a joke and not real until the repetition of waiting in lines kicks in. Part of what makes this joke funny is that the punchline of the joke is literally that “there was no punchline”, a paradox that is equally infuriating and hilarious.

Dentist Joke

Nationality: Irish American
Age: 57
Occupation: Dentist
Residence: San Carlos, Ca
Performance Date: 4/6/2017
Primary Language: English

Informant:

Terry is a second generation Irish american who grew up in los Angeles in the ‘60s and 70’s. He is now a dentist working and living in the Bay area.

Piece:

Ok, so here is a joke that I learned in dental school. It goes like this:

What did the dentist see in the North pole?

A molar bear

Collector’s thoughts:

This short dentist joke is a pun which replaces polar bear with the word molar. The informant laughed at his own joke and got great pleasure from telling it. To me it seemed that half of the fun in telling this joke for the informant came from the fact that it is a somewhat boring joke.