Thinking in Jokes

[rowens]

One thing it took me a while to realize is: a lot of people don't think in jokes. I always think in jokes. To me the world is supreme tragicomedy. As example: One time a girl I was seeing said: ''You never take me seriously. You're always after women who are as smart as you.'' To which I said: Oh you don't have to worry about that, baby. There are no women as smart as me.

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And then there's this comment I made the other day. People for some reason, though I think it's completely normal, get on my case because I'm notoriously falling in love with girls ten years younger than me. To which I respond: I don't know any girls my age, I don't think they make them anymore.

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And whilst watching my mom while she was recovering from back surgery, she was complaining about my coat that has holes in it. She said no woman is going to want to date me if I dress like that. I often leave openings for people to make jokes. And they just don't do it. I guess they don't think in jokes. . . . I said, The girl I talk to has all kinds of money (She does. Her daddy's rich, like the song says. I always get messed around with these wealthy broads, because they're the only ones who don't pay attention to how poor I am.) but she chooses to shop at Goodwill, because she prefers things that look old. . . . Right there I left an opening. When I said: She likes things that look old; My mom could have said: ''Then no wonder she likes you.'' But she didn't. She didn't say that. People don't think in jokes. I wonder why.

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I wanted to edit the post, and put a semicolon after old and leave My mom the way it is, in the last lines. But it won't let me, it won't let me. Can one of you kind moderators do it for me? It won't let me. +t won't let me.

[ellajam]

done

[billy]

i tend to think more in innuendo than joke. i can for some reason see something savory in almost anything someone says. when i reply i'm often looked at as if i'm a moron

[dukealien]

Thinking in jokes.  Hmm.  Thinking *of* jokes involves looking at the current situation and being struck by an inspiration that reverses it.  (Sometimes the inspiration comes first, and you have to hunt around for a situation where it would be funny, or edit reality to fit.) This can be darned useful if you do it all the time:  when things are going well, or seem to be, think of how the tables could be turned.  This can lead to sound investments, good passwords, and so forth, but also paranoia.  After all, in a universe of surprises they *are* all out to get you.

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To me, it also seems that the best jokes (maybe all of them that are actually funny, if "actually" has any constant value) have a moral component.  The cop reveals that it's *his* car he just stopped, dashing the car thief's hope of escape.  The cop explains that he didn't know the guy he stopped was an a$$hole until he opened his mouth.  The guy who ties a lit stick of dynamite to a coyote... which promptly runs under his new pickup truck and hides.  Theft, bad manners, cruelty get their just reward.

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So thinking in jokes can be aggressive (I'm smarter than you, I know the punchline) but also prophylactic (knowing the patterns, I avoid actions and situations that make me the butt of a joke).  On the moral side, this means I avoid being the villain and try to act, if necessary, like the guy who turns the tables.  Telling jokes on yourself is also a fine thing:  it shows humility... and if you can fake that, you've got something to be proud of!

[rowens]

With young people, I always bring up Heath Ledger's Joker. In philosophical conversations. That's a character, abstract and fictional as may be, that you can't compete with. As much as I love the Tim Burton Batman from when I was young. And then there's Harpo Marx. I met him in a dream the other night. He doesn't even need language. And if he loses it's just as good as winning, for him. He's still the GUY.