Back in my waitressing days, when I was a wee lass of 19 with no world experience and minimal empathy, I had quite a few customers I didn't quite mesh with. Some were jerks and some I just didn't "get."
One of the latter was a guy, probably in his 50s (which doesn't seem all that old now but did at the time), who had the driest, most deadpan humor I've ever seen. I totally didn't get it. I felt uncomfortable waiting on him because I never knew if he was joking or not and when I should be smiling or taking him seriously.
It's ironic because he was actually really nice and the older waitresses all loved him. Also ironic, as I get older I can feel my own sense of humor... shifting. More and more often something that makes me laugh hysterically leaves other people raising an eyebrow at my inappropriate reaction.
I like to misquote movies and books, which no one gets but my sisters and people who happen to have read the same books I have. So to my friends I'm just randomly using archaic language or bizarre phrasing.
I also like to make jokes that are inappropriate for a particular situation because, in my mind, half the joke is how inappropriate the joke is.
Example: we went to a friend's birthday party recently. Her mom was hosting and is a bit of a prude and easy to set off. So naturally I had to make a card that read:
It's not always inappropriate either! Sometimes it's just obscure. I really like "meta jokes" or jokes that are funny because of some aspect of the joke itself.
Another example: a friend is getting married and just "said yes to the dress." We were all excited and texting our support since she had gotten it on a shopping trip without the bridal party. Here's what the comments looked like:
To me it's funny for 2 reasons. 1) It's a play on "the one" and it was ironic that "the one" was the dress, not the life partner. 2) Actually suggesting that the dress is more important than the partner is horribly shallow and hopefully no one makes their decisions that way.
Last example: I was in a group text with my blog buddies and we were talking about some phone-related thing. I made a joke about my emoji struggles, they responded appropriately and then we moved on. Later, we were on a different topic and instead of saying, "I <3 organization" I used a strawberry. "I [strawberry] organization." Because I'm bad at emojis... Get it?
It's ridiculous because I'm over here cracking up at my own lame jokes and I honestly don't know if anyone else even noticed it.
And I feel like it's getting worse as I get older. I'm slowly getting more out of sync with what the rest of the world considers to be funny and I'm slowly ceasing to care so I say more and more weird things.
It's only a matter of time before I too am that old guy with the weird humor.
One of the latter was a guy, probably in his 50s (which doesn't seem all that old now but did at the time), who had the driest, most deadpan humor I've ever seen. I totally didn't get it. I felt uncomfortable waiting on him because I never knew if he was joking or not and when I should be smiling or taking him seriously.
It's ironic because he was actually really nice and the older waitresses all loved him. Also ironic, as I get older I can feel my own sense of humor... shifting. More and more often something that makes me laugh hysterically leaves other people raising an eyebrow at my inappropriate reaction.
I like to misquote movies and books, which no one gets but my sisters and people who happen to have read the same books I have. So to my friends I'm just randomly using archaic language or bizarre phrasing.
I also like to make jokes that are inappropriate for a particular situation because, in my mind, half the joke is how inappropriate the joke is.
Example: we went to a friend's birthday party recently. Her mom was hosting and is a bit of a prude and easy to set off. So naturally I had to make a card that read:
- Front: "You might be getting old..."
- Inside: "But you still got dat ass!"
It's not always inappropriate either! Sometimes it's just obscure. I really like "meta jokes" or jokes that are funny because of some aspect of the joke itself.
Another example: a friend is getting married and just "said yes to the dress." We were all excited and texting our support since she had gotten it on a shopping trip without the bridal party. Here's what the comments looked like:
- Other bridesmaid: Yayyy, I'm so excited for you!
- Other bridesmaid: Omg, it's beautiful! I love detail A, detail B, etc, etc.
- Me: I'm so glad you found the one! (And [future husband's name] is ok too, I guess.)
To me it's funny for 2 reasons. 1) It's a play on "the one" and it was ironic that "the one" was the dress, not the life partner. 2) Actually suggesting that the dress is more important than the partner is horribly shallow and hopefully no one makes their decisions that way.
Last example: I was in a group text with my blog buddies and we were talking about some phone-related thing. I made a joke about my emoji struggles, they responded appropriately and then we moved on. Later, we were on a different topic and instead of saying, "I <3 organization" I used a strawberry. "I [strawberry] organization." Because I'm bad at emojis... Get it?
It's ridiculous because I'm over here cracking up at my own lame jokes and I honestly don't know if anyone else even noticed it.
And I feel like it's getting worse as I get older. I'm slowly getting more out of sync with what the rest of the world considers to be funny and I'm slowly ceasing to care so I say more and more weird things.
It's only a matter of time before I too am that old guy with the weird humor.
Do you ever make jokes that fall flat? Do you feel like other people "get" your humor?
