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Transgressive Jokes and Western Civilization
The day that the Challenger blew up, I was sitting in a lounge area adjacent to the cafeteria with some friends when another friend came up.
He said in an obviously joking tone, “Hey, do you know what NASA stands for?”
I bit, “No, what does it stand for?”
“Need Another Seven Astronauts?”
Talk about going from disaster to humor in nothing flat, he had it down to a few hours. These days, I’m sure he would have followed up with, “Too soon?” Of course, that joke had probably been a variant of one from Apollo 1, where it might have been, “Need Another Set of Astronauts,” so the speed came through recycling.
When the subject of the Challenger explosion came up recently, I thought about that moment. If someone today, especially a university student, cracked a tasteless joke like that on the day of a disaster, the authorities would lock him up, clear the building, and provide psychological counseling for all who had been triggered by his obtuseness towards the feelings of the snowflakes around him.
Back at that time, I had a job at the university, and my boss’ boss was a black man with an Irish last name. One day, he announced he had gotten an invitation to attend the World (his surname) Gathering in Ireland.
“Can you see me strutting in there?” he asked while acting out the strut. He imagined he would say, “‘Hi! I’m just here to add a little color to the gathering!’”
Then he looked over at me, “Hey, Charley! You know why white men dress as they do on the golf course?”
“No, Doc, why do they?”
He waved at his outfit, which included bright colors and plaid pants, “So they can dress as cool as black men do every day.”
Can you imagine anyone doing that today? Yes, the target of the humor might be construed as white men, or the target might be seen as black fashion choices.
I grew up with all sorts of transgressive jokes. We learned to laugh. We learned to have humor in horrible situations.
Q. What is Al Qaeda’s favorite football team?
A. The New York Jets.
We were not brittle. Like iron, we were worked hard with a bit of carbon (or manure) thrown our way to make us tough and flexible steel.
Some of that manure thrown our way was in the form of ethnic jokes:
Q. How does a Polack tie his shoe?
A. *The guy puts one foot up on a chair and bends down to tie the shoe on the other foot, which is on the ground.*
Q: How can you tell if a WASP is sexually excited?
A: The stiff upper lip.
Q. How can you tell when a Scotsman is dead?
A. He lets go of his wallet.
We learned to tell dirty jokes without being offended or offensive:
Q. What’s black and white, black and white, black and white, black and white, and green?
A. Four nuns fighting over a pickle.
In many ways, these jokes which would be considered offensive today were the glue that held us together. They were the hammers we were forged with. They were the naughty coals that warmed our hearts. These jokes were the building bricks of a cohesive civilization.
Sure, they could be sick and cruel or even gross:
Q. What’s red and white and hangs from the ceiling?
A. A baby on a meat hook.
Q. What’s green and hangs from the ceiling?
A. Same baby three weeks later.
Or they might make fun of people with disabilities:
Q. What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs when he’s on your porch?
A. Matt.
Q. What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs when he’s in the ocean?
A. Bob.
Hey, did you hear about the hockey game at the leper colony? There was a face off in the corner.
And they certainly made fun of professions:
Q. What do you call a lawyer with an IQ of 100?
A. Your Honor.
Q. What do you call a lawyer with an IQ of 50
A. Senator.
Q. What’s the difference between an accountant and a lawyer?
A. Accountants know they’re boring.
Q. How do you know you’re talking to an extroverted actuary?
A. He looks at your shoes when he talks.
The only way for us to preserve Western Civilization is to get back to joking without worrying about who might be offended. So, give us your best. Disaster jokes? Go for it! Nun jokes? Dead baby jokes? Mommy, mommy jokes? Leper jokes? Quadruple-amputee jokes? Rude limericks? Bring ’em on.
Just remember that we still have a CoC on Ricochet, so clean up your language, you etaoin shrdlus.
Published in Group Writing
Very shortly after 9/11, during the media debate about what should be rebuilt there (as a memorial, you see), I, being the modest punster that I aspire to be, thought of a joke. I told my daughter and when she laughed I had to admonish strongly that she was never, ever to repeat it in public.
So, yes, there were 9/11 jokes, mostly or entirely self-suppressed.
I came later to rec.humor.funny and missed JEDR but saw the Joke Ethnic/Denomination/Religion usage.
How do you get a one armed JEDR out of a tree?
Wave
Sven and Ollie decided to take up duck hunting. Got hunting licenses and got a retriever. After a few hours in the duck blind Sven says, “Wonder why we haven’t gotten any ducks with all of them flying around.” Ollie replies, “Maybe we’re not throwin’ the dog high enough.”
Ohio to Kentucky: Did you hear that they are enlarging the Cincinnati zoo? They are building a fence around Kentucky.
Kentucky to Ohio: Did you hear about those two Buckeyes drowning in the Ohio river? Trying to put a basement under their houseboat.
Tennessee to Kentucky: Why don’t Kentuckians drink iced water in the summer? They can’t remember the recipe.
Kentucky to Tennessee: What have 60% of Tennesseans tried by the time they graduate high school? Soap.
The first 9/11 joke I heard was about two weeks later. A man took a detour from his office at the WTC to meet his mistress, and was…rather occupied at the time of the attacks. His wife finally managed to reach him via his satellite phone when the cell and land lines failed, and in a panic asked “Are you okay? where are you?”
“At work. Where else would I be?”
It was mere days before the Onion’s post-9/11 special, which was more brave than funny.
My mother lives in Indiana and swears that everyone in Kentucky has a retarded cousin in Indiana.
My mother also has a theory that the baby of the family is retarded (at least in the eyes of the elder siblings). She had four siblings with the eldest having been twenty-one years older than she was. She had several conversations where her sister was insisting that something happened in a certain way where Mother finally replied, “You weren’t even there. You were grown and out of the house before I was born.” She had several other conversations where it became obvious that her siblings pictured her as no more than five-years-old in capabilities.
Equating the two, I’ve never quite gotten up the gumption to ask if she has a cousin in Kentucky.
“Q: What do you call a dead guy who’s been in a hot tub for a few days? ” “A: Stew.”
“Q: What’s the difference between a dead skunk in the road and a dead trombonist in the road?”
“A: The skunk was probably on its way to a gig.”
“Q: What’s the difference between a dead puppy in the road and a dead lawyer in the road?”
“A: Skidmarks in front of the puppy.”
If you haven’t yet, check out “Historical Roasts” on Netflix. Some of he jokes would fit right in on this thread. On a recent Jeff Ross podcast, Thick Skin, he said he’s still getting “Too Soon!” complaints about the Ann Frank roast. (Gilbert Gottfried was the perfect überroastenführer.)
The women in our office (three) understand perfectly and participate avidly.
If lawyer jokes qualify:
Why does New York have the most lawyers and New Jersey have the most toxic waste?
New Jersey had first choice.
That reminds me of the story of how Joliet, Illinois got the prison. Back in the Nineteenth Century, they supposedly had a choice of the prison or the University of Illinois. They figured they could get work out of prisoners, which would be much better than having college kids roaming the streets.
When I was in college, there were quite a few Jewish guys in my fraternity. Jokes about Jewish American Princesses were very popular among that crowd.
“What’s a Jewish American Princess’ favorite wine?”
“Daddy, I don’t wanna go to Miami!!”
Sorority girl jokes were also, obviously, very popular as well.
“What does a sorority girl put behind her ears to make herself more appealing?”
“Her ankles”
—
“What’s the mating call of a sorority girl?”
“I am sooo drunk!”
What’s the difference between a Jewish-American Princess and an Italian-American Princess? With the Italian, the jewelry is fake and the orgasms are real.
I think I’ve figured out why this kind of drastic reaction doesn’t sit well with me aside from my own counter-distaste. As people talk about an event like this it seems that some discrete act is being taken as what a person is as opposed to simply what a person said or did that one time. Of course, one can develop a trend or reputation based on repeated word and deed making known what one values and doesn’t value. and of course sometimes what’s revealed should be rejected in whole.
But kids aren’t people: they’re dumb and not quite responsible for themselves. That’s why we use age as a reasonable proxy for all sorts of questions of competence including driving, voting, and signing contracts.
Then there is the more general question of tasteless jokes about important things. Is this joke revealing of something broader and deeper about that person? Or is it simply awkwardness or coping or taking control? Or is it just a difference in how one interprets events and not a difference in values?
To me, in order for a drastic reaction to be justified the subject must have revealed something so objectively abhorrent about themselves that is intrinsic to how they behave. I don’t think that tasteless jokes qualify. More like murder, rape, thievery, etc.
How do you get the trombone player off of your porch?
Pay him for the pizza.
What do you call a trombone player who just broke up with his girlfriend?
Homeless.
We have a saying here: “If God had intended for Texans to ski, He would have given them a mountain!”
They absolutely overrun Taos every winter.
The version I heard: What’s the difference between a dead skunk in the road and a dead lawyer in the road?
There might be skid marks in front of the skunk.
“Mommy, Mommy, I don’t like Grampa anymore.”
“Shut up and keep eating.”
“Mommy, Mommy, grandma’s giving me the eye again.”
“Wash it off and give it back.”
Rather than reinvent the wheel, Here’s 99 more.
Pick up lines for women:
Blonde: I’m soooo drunk!
Bottle-blonde: I said, I’m drunk!
Brunette: Looks like all the blondes left….
Redhead: NEXT!
Well, it seems the Helen Keller joke I skipped isn’t much worse than what’s been posted already…
Why does Helen Keller masturbate with only one hand?
She needs the other to moan.
I guess the retarded ones feel at home in Indiana ;-)
Mr. Durphy, that’s a funny joke, but I feel ashamed for laughing. I guess that’s the sign of a good transgressive joke.
By the way, who masturbates with two hands?
Well, I don’t like to brag…
Ha ha. You’re a funny guy, Jim, though the image you’ve left in my mind is embarrassing.
You aren’t fishing, are you, for a new mate?
You know, this thread is beginning to resemble The Pit.
That was a memorable headline.
What are you saying? “It takes two hands to handle the whopper?”
No, no fishing. It just seemed like the obvious follow up line.
On a work trip our group went out to eat with the small team we were meeting. A coworker told this one. How do all black jokes start? <look around and over both shoulders>
The blonde in the local team said, “That’s a good idea to check. What’s the joke?”
A blonde walks into a library, goes up to the woman behind the desk, and says, “I want a burger, fries, and a coke.” The woman behind the desk says “This is a library.” The blonde whispers “I want a burger, fries, and a coke.”
Q: How did Helen Keller’s parents punish her when she was growing up?
A: They rearranged the furniture
From “A Prairie Home Companion” years ago, with Garrison Keillor rattling off joke after joke that Minnesotans told about Iowans:
Q: Why do Iowans only get 15 minutes at work for lunch?
A: Because it would take too long to retrain them.
What does a sorority girl do the morning after a party?
She walks home.