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February 24, 2012 at 12:32 pm #745949
metrognomeParticipantI’m a kleptomaniac, but when it gets really bad, I can take something for it.
February 24, 2012 at 5:22 pm #745950
munchkin22MemberWe love that one…hahahahaha
February 24, 2012 at 5:27 pm #745951
DBPMemberOK, 4-evah . . . but this is gonna be one hella weird post, with a discussion about racism interspersed with jokes about kleptomaniacs n’shit.
I happen to be a kleptomaniac myself, but I’m not offended.
I can take it.
February 24, 2012 at 6:02 pm #745952
DBPMember4-evah:
Two anecdotes about humor that may help you understand my perspective.
Not humorous stories, mind.
Stories about humor.
<anecdote>
Some 25 years ago, shortly after I moved to Seattle, I enrolled myself in the Human Services program at SCCC. My plan was to either become a great humanitarian or just get my ass a job, whichever came first.
In retrospect, I guess it was rather comical . . . Here I was, this lily-white boy from the suburbs among all these hard-core inner-city types who had already been working in the field for long years and were just there for their counseling certs.
Shelter workers, parole officers, recovering addicts. Stuff like that. Tough crowd.
Well, one day we had an in-class presentation from a CPS caseworker who specialized in working with young children who had been sexually assaulted, and she gave us details on some of the cases she’d worked over the years.
At the end, one of the students asked her how she dealt with the stress of such an awful job.
“We laugh about stuff a lot,” she replied. “Even the perpetrators. We make up jokes about them.”
A collective gasp rose from the audience.
“What!? How can you laugh about stuff like that?” someone demanded.
The caseworker shrugged. “I know it seems heartless, but it’s the only way you can take the stress. If you don’t laugh about it, you’ll burn out. And a lot of people do.”
</anecdote>
February 24, 2012 at 7:29 pm #745953
ws4everMemberResolving issues may require examining viewpoints. That takes using words. Instead of asking someone to leave, you could answer a question. Laughing at what makes us uncomfortable is useful. I laugh with a friend about someone considering her a terrorist, as she supports her children, completes a degree and works 50+ hours a week. My complaint is: a dark skin and facial features don’t tell you much about a person’s worth or character. We all have gallows humor at work–but the really funny stuff is when we laugh at/with our own group and its foibles, not at a presumed enemy who is more likely innocent. Off my soapbox. Have at it.
February 24, 2012 at 7:34 pm #745954
metrognomeParticipanthmmm … being a kleptomaniac is an uplifting experience …
ok, I’m gonna give this thread a twist; I’m from a family of punsters and I’ve been getting cabin fever, so I’ve had to entertain myself. Here are some famous quotes, mostly from movies, where one letter or sound has been changed …
“You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, hunk?” What Clint said to the guy who hit on him at OutWest. [edited to correct the quote]
“Four score and seven beers ago …” What Abe said to the innkeeper who asked how long it had been since he found out he lost the election.
“I’ll be Jack!” What AH-nold said before doing his Nicholson imitation on Leno’s show.
“They call me SISTER Tibbs!” What Sidney said (with a toss of the head) to reporters after returning from his surgery in Sweden.
“You can’t handle the fruit!” What Jack said to Tom after he went into anaphylactic shock from a single sip of his pina colada.
Ok, your turn …
February 24, 2012 at 7:44 pm #745955
365StairsParticipant“It’s no big seal” – What Carl Spackler (Bill Murray) said as he was sitting at Lincoln Park’s beach watching a pup be born.
February 24, 2012 at 7:46 pm #745956
365StairsParticipant“I’m on top of a girl!” What Jack said to Rose on the Titanic after he said “I’m on top of the world!”…
February 24, 2012 at 8:34 pm #745957
365StairsParticipant“I feel the need…the need to plead” –
What Maverick said to the JAG lawyer regarding the civil case brought on by Goose’s wife (cut from the movie of course).
February 24, 2012 at 10:43 pm #745958
miwsParticipant“The pun you took”, said Pussy Galore to James Bond, after posting one on the WSB Forums’ Puns for Intellectuals thread, that he’d overheard her say.
Mike
February 24, 2012 at 11:38 pm #745959
metrognomeParticipant“Mmmm, that dirty, double-crossing cat!!!!” Jimmy muttered under his breath as he watched the feline parade back and forth across the street, tail held high, until she stopped smack dab in front of his car to leisurely clean her already immaculate fur.
365Stairs — I think you mixed up Leo (‘I’m King of the World’) and Cagney (‘Made it, Ma! Top of the world!’) altho I never saw Titanic. But it’s funny with either quote.
February 26, 2012 at 12:20 am #745960
DBPMember<anecdote>
In the weeks after 9/11, a coworker complained to me that the world would forever more be a humorless place. “It’s the end of laughter,” he said, despairingly. “No more teasing, no more grab-assing, no more jokes. About anything.”
As the office clown, I naturally received this augury with foreboding. I knew he had to be wrong, but, on the other hand, I wasn’t about to go squirting him with my lapel flower just to prove a point. I decided to keep my head down and wait things out. I decided to wait until I heard other people laughing first before trying to propagate any laughter on my own.
But I knew the shitstorm of misery would someday blow over. And eventually, it did.
</anecdote>
By now, more than 10 years after 9/11, the world has heard so much of suicide bombers that they have become a kind of cultural meme . . . So much so, in fact, that one ventriloquist (Jeff Dunham) has made a name for himself based largely on his “Achmed the Dead Terrorist” character.
“Silence!!! I kill you!”
[Google it.]
Is Achmed the Dead Terrorist a racial* caricature?
¶ He sports a turban and beard, even though he’s just a skeleton.
¶ He speaks with an accent that is supposedly recognizable to Americans as “Arab.”
¶ Although Achmed doesn’t talk about religion per se, he does refer loosely to his motivations for being a suicide bomber (e.g., the “72 virgins” thing).
All of which clearly plays on American stereotypes of Muslims, Arabs, and terrorists as a class.
—So, yes, undeniably so. Achmed is a “racial” caricature.
But . . . is he therefore destructive, and something to be shunned?
—Not necessarily.
If you watch one of Achmed’s many performances on YouTube, you’ll occasionally see a shot of the audience. To me, the folks in these audiences don’t seem like racists, or even racists in training. Just the contrary, in fact. I think the people laughing at Achmed know he’s a stereotype, and that’s why they feel ok laughing at him: because they know he’s not real.
I’ll grant you that if the context were different, Achmed would be a bit more worrisome. If Americans were less tolerant than they are, for example, or if there were a violent struggle going on between religious groups in this country, as there is in Iraq, for example. Then Achmed would definitely be counterproductive. But over here, I think he’s just a way of Americans dumping their anxieties and letting off steam.
As for me, I still feel like I’m an OK person if I get a chuckle or two out of Achmed. But in an upcoming post, I’ll talk about some real violence that’s being perpetrated against Muslims around the world.
And believe me, it’s not being perpetrated by jokers.
*************************************************************************************
*I’ll leave aside the question of whether religion and nationality equate to race. Let’s just say that, in the minds of many Americans, they do.
February 26, 2012 at 3:50 am #745961
metrognomeParticipantDBP — with all due respect, you are kootchjacking this thread. If you want to start a political thread on the impact of 9/11 on humor or racial profiling, etc., please do so.
In the meantime, let’s return to PUNS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pun
I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down.
He drove his expensive car into a tree and found out how the Mercedes bends.
Police were called to a daycare where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.
The next day, police were called to the same daycare to investigate a kid napping.
I did a theatrical performance about puns. Really it was just a play on words.
Need an ark to save two of every animal? I noah guy.
There was once a cross-eyed teacher who couldn’t control his pupils.
My new theory on inertia doesn’t seem to be gaining momentum.
and, finally (you old folks may have to explain ‘propeller’ to the young ‘uns) ….
Did you hear about the Pan Am Clipper stewardess who accidentally backed into the propeller? Disaster!!
February 27, 2012 at 7:10 pm #745962
365StairsParticipantLand ownner was seeking animal medical perscriptions for his cows from the local Vet…
Vet declined politely…
“It is you that owns the farm I see”
February 28, 2012 at 10:54 pm #745963
lindaParticipantThere are 10 different kinds of people in this world: those that understand binary and those that don’t.
April 14, 2012 at 9:26 pm #745964
JanSParticipantApril 14, 2012 at 11:29 pm #745965
DBPMemberApril 14, 2012 at 11:45 pm #745966
JanSParticipantlol..you won a…reprieve..:D
April 15, 2012 at 1:21 am #745967
DBPMemberApril 15, 2012 at 3:04 am #745968
huhMemberAndrew Lloyd Webber!
April 15, 2012 at 3:12 am #745969
DBPMemberAw . . . yeah. Was it too easy?
April 15, 2012 at 5:14 pm #745970
huhMemberLucky guess
April 16, 2012 at 7:58 pm #745971
DBPMemberApril 16, 2012 at 8:01 pm #745972
JanSParticipantfirst thing that came to mind was…going postal – lol…
April 16, 2012 at 8:03 pm #745973
DBPMemberThat’s odd. The first thing that came to my mind was k— . . .
On second thought, no.
Better not say it.
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