Words

In my life my mom has taught me many of things. A lesson well learned was to be the class clown and try to make people laugh. One of the ways I try to accomplish this is through puns and general word play. As proof of my mom’s hand in this skill I offer a completely true account.

We were driving home in Tucson and the next door neighbor’s donkey was Heeeing and Haaaing wildly. I was in mimic mode so I started making what I thought was the exact sound of the donkey. For reassurance of this fact I turn to my mom and asked “do I sound like a donkey?” Without hesitation she replies with “No, but you look like an ass.” For the next four hours she was laughing at her pure wit. I too have to give her props on her perfect delivery.

Back to the main topic; word play and puns. While I am at large in the world it would seem one of my most fond tools for humor has been dismantled and sold for parts. Here in a foreign country where English words have a single meaning, word play seems impossible. If you want to ask the oh so classic joke, “is your refrigerator running?” their answer will be “no it is turned on”. Now you are frustrated that you have been out done. On top of that you look like a dweeb for wondering about the condition of their fridge. The first few times I tried to use word play, I got a look like I didn’t know English. Lesson learned. Stick to knock knock jokes.

Roles get flipped when locals trying using English. Italians and Germans make blunders then laugh at themselves. Just last night I was last walking out of an apartment gesturing whether to close the door or not. In the tenants attempt at telling me to shut the door it came out shoot the door. So others laughed, they told him what he said, he laughed. I sat there wondering whether I should buy a gun or close the door. Why didn’t you teach me this humor mom???

Moral of the story, if you cant beat em, join em…If you cant join em, you are probably not very good at what you are doing…do something else