Comments on: Did I misinterpret …?

By: Shulamuth

Shulamuth — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:28:01 +0000

Jerry, I think that as we get older the laugh-meeter needle moves slowly from jokes that are funny because they are macabre to those that are funny and macabre, which is why I made the comment. I could easily be kidding myself, though — I certainly got the joke.

Misuse of ‘phase’ fazes me!

By: Jerry

Jerry — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:04:02 +0000

“…going through that pseudo-sophisticated late teen macabre joke phase.”

When does that phase end BTW? I turned forty last week and am apparently still in it.

P.S. Shulamuth thank you thank you thank you for not spelling it “faze”. It makes me want to gnaw my ears off when people do that.

By: Colleen

Colleen — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:23:17 +0000

Farhibide, I very much doubt that it’s just a misfired “staff” pun. First, the set-up line would have to be completely rephrased to make it work, and second and more tellingly, there’s no reason for to refer very specifically to the post office unless it’s some kind of distasteful “going postal” joke.

By: Farhibide

Farhibide — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:58:43 +0000

I wouldn’t allow your grown-up sensibilities to attach too much significance to a joke meant for kids. It sounds like the person who emailed it to you did not “get” the joke in its original/correct form but decided to repeat it anyway. It’s unfortunate that he or she managed to mess up the one word in the entire joke that made it funny to begin with.

By: Shulamuth

Shulamuth — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:28:48 +0000

Argh — posting before caffeine! “and THEY WERE going through”.

By: Shulamuth

Shulamuth — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:21:15 +0000

My kids certainly told it as a joke when it was more topical and going through that pseudo-sophisticated late teen macabre joke phase.

By: Robin

Robin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:19:09 +0000

Abby, I often find that jokes that are offensive are also just lazy–i.e., they are artistic failures as well as moral failures. (This is part of why I am becoming so disappointed in “The Office” of late … it used to be a character-driven show about flawed and exaggerated, but nonetheless real, people, and now they are resorting to tired cliches and stereotypes.)

By: Abby

Abby — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:18:07 +0000

I agree you got it right. It’s in very poor taste. Also the “joke” seems to be about a decade or more late. Not that it would redeem the joke to be more topical, just saying it fails as a joke on a lot of different levels.

By: JP

JP — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:55:29 +0000

That’s how I took it too. That is awful.

By: Molly

Molly — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:09:23 +0000

Agreed with akmom; sounds like something out of “Truly Tasteless Jokes”.

(I keep saying “half-mast”, and eeka keeps reminding me that we’re not on a boat. Granted, I was raised by someone who was in the Navy, but I grew up about as far away from the ocean as possible in this country.)

By: akmom

akmom — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:59:14 +0000

I think you are getting it. Most people are clueless about the mast/staff distinction, and it sounds like a joke that someone with an extremely sick sense of humor would enjoy. I just find it sick.