We were having a discussion on the merits of joke telling today and came to the conclusion that you cant actually tell a joke anymore without offending someone.

Have the PC brigade finally killed the art of joke telling? I mean with them everything is off limits. You cant tell any kind of joke about race, religion, sexual preference, peoples size, anything that makes them different.

I am lucky I suppose that the environment I work in we can and do still tell jokes about most subjects and we are all different in many ways, race and religion being just two areas.

On " Little Britain " the other night they told a Lesbian joke and I have not heard any kind of back lash. I wondered if it would have been different if say Jim Davidson had told the same joke?

Perhaps we should all lighten up a bit ( not a Michael Jackson joke by the way ) its only a bit fun to help the day pass a little quicker.

What do you think?

The days when you coul'd tell a joke and forget about it are finished,the PC people will make you pay for the slightest miss comment so the best thing to do is dont tell jokes.
Yes it is a sad carry on but this is what our resident lefties and liberals have done to the country.

Nothing to do with the resident lefties and liberals, Roy, but more to do with closed minded people of any persuasion.

I have this theory that people who are 'down' on politically incorrect jokes are actually scared of what the joke tells them about their own biases. Similarly, people who tell racially or sexually offensive jokes are trying to hide their own fears and weaknesses behind a wall of poor humour.

I think you can tell jokes without offending people - provided that you're also willing and able to have jokes told about yourself.

And that was a good observation about how a joke can sometimes be viewed as offensive depending upon who told it; someone like Jim Davidson telling a joke about Lesbians would be viewed as offensive because of his general demeanour and attitude. A lesbian telling the same joke about herself might be viewed as less offensive; laughing with, not at.

There was a nice one listed the other day in The Times as the world's favourite joke :

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other man pulls out his phone and calls emergency services and gasps to the operator: "My friend is dead! What can I do?"
The operator in a calm, soothing voice replies: "Take it easy. I can
help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a
shot is heard.

Back on the phone, the hunter says, "OK, now what?"

Another harmless one (although why weasel's are involved I have no idea) :

"Two weasels are sitting on a bar stool. One starts to insult the other one. He screams, "I slept with your mother!" The bar gets quiet as everyone listens to see what the other weasel will do. The first again yells, "I SLEPT WITH YOUR
MOTHER!" The other says: "Go home dad, you're drunk."

OK...I await trouble from weasels and hunters...and the emergency services...and the phone companies for showing phones being used in a bad way...and the drinks industry for drunken weasels....:)

Joe

you could always try telling a funny joke rather than one that relies on you laughing at a group not there to defend themselves.

Originally posted by Cyclone
you could always try telling a funny joke rather than one that relies on you laughing at a group not there to defend themselves.

Good point....to me good jokes are based on the foibles and weaknesses common to all human beings, rather than traits of a particular group.

Joe

It is - and always has been - impossible to tell a joke without offending someone, somewhere.

A joke, or any kind of humorous writing, is a complicated, concise composition with one basic, common aim - to get people to laugh at someone elses misfortune(s).

Which is bound to offend someone.

I don't think all jokes necessarily require a victim:

Q. How do you make God laugh?
A. Tell him your plans.

Q.Why did Karl Marx only drink herbal infusions?
A. Because all property is theft.

Puns and double entendres are funny too (I think).

And absurdist/surreal comedy too - frequently victimless, twisted observational jokes.

Think of it as enlightenment, not censoriousness, that many of us no longer beliueve tired stereotypical abuse is a suitable reaction to feelings of inadequacy.

("the lady doth protest too much, methinks")

LOL Phan were they suposed to be jokes only I must be missing something here.
By the way did you know that the term political corectnous was first used by a man called Joseph Goebells and it was invented by a marxist.
If im mistaken then someone will set me right.:heyhey:

david attenborough is in africa filming a wild life documentary on lions,in order to get a prize winning shot he and his team have to approach the lions to within 25 yards,as the camera rolls the wind changes,the male lion looks in the camera crews direction and lets out a blood curdling roar,the sound man starts to put on a pair of reebok trainers when mr. attenborough whispers to him " dont be silly,you cant out run a lion "...the sound man replies " screw the lion,all i have to do is out run you " the sound man to my knowledge was not homosexual nor a transvestite or a lesbian one parent family,nor was he an ethnic minority,i presume he was not dissabled as he was preparing to run and i believe that no animal was hurt or otherwise caused any stress whilst bieng involved in this joke............................there, i think i might have just gotten away with telling a joke that doesnt upset anyone

Courtesy of Peter Kay's Leonard De Tompkinson character on 'That Peter Kay Thing'

My friend Billy's got a ten foot willy
He showed it to the girl next door
She thought it was a snake
And hit it with a rake
And now it's only 5 foot 4!

A ditty really but I think it's great:clap:

Long live comedy:thumbsup:

Originally posted by depoix
david attenborough is in africa filming a wild life documentary on lions,in order to get a prize winning shot he and his team have to approach the lions to within 25 yards,as the camera rolls the wind changes,the male lion looks in the camera crews direction and lets out a blood curdling roar,the sound man starts to put on a pair of reebok trainers when mr. attenborough whispers to him " dont be silly,you cant out run a lion "...the sound man replies " screw the lion,all i have to do is out run you " the sound man to my knowledge was not homosexual nor a transvestite or a lesbian one parent family,nor was he an ethnic minority,i presume he was not dissabled as he was preparing to run and i believe that no animal was hurt or otherwise caused any stress whilst bieng involved in this joke............................there, i think i might have just gotten away with telling a joke that doesnt upset anyone

On the contrary, I'm REALLY bloody upset,

D. Attenborough (Sir)
c/o Guy's Hospital
London W1

Two goldfish in a tank...

One says to the other 'how do you drive this thing?'

Anyone offended?

How do you make Barry Manilows nose 12 inches long?


Fold it in half.

Sorry if i've offended Barry or any of his fans.

Originally posted by mitziwillow
Courtesy of Peter Kay's Leonard De Tompkinson character on 'That Peter Kay Thing'

My friend Billy's got a ten foot willy
He showed it to the girl next door
She thought it was a snake
And hit it with a rake
And now it's only 5 foot 4!

A ditty really but I think it's great:clap:

Long live comedy:thumbsup:

that joke has SO never been Peter Kay's joke... i was using that lame rhyme when I was like a tiny kid, and I know when I said it it was already old :P

personally I'm not one for telling jokes, my humour comes from random on the spot comedy... like wise cracks at something humourous thats said or done...

spur of the moment humour at the expense of a friend is so much funnier than a joke thats been told 100000000 times... and hell if i care if I get it back from my mates in return... thats life, if we didnt poke fun at eachother and keep everyone on their toes we would all be morbid little people!

guy walks into a bar - ouch

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
I don't think all jokes necessarily require a victim:

Q. How do you make God laugh?
A. Tell him your plans.

Q.Why did Karl Marx only drink herbal infusions?
A. Because all property is theft.



But they are generally required to be funny.

Originally posted by nick2
But they are generally required to be funny.
Interesting point, but that is an entirely subjective and qualitative property. A joke is merely something that is intended to incite mirth, it's actual reception is largely irrelevant. Unless you are specifically talking about universally funny jokes, such as pratfalls, custard pies, etc, which is based on the schadenfreude that Sam Miguel was talking about.

But these are all visual jokes - once you try and encode humour in language you have automatically set up barriers to understanding, both in terms of the obvious language barrier to non-speakers, but also on a much more complex and subtle level:

The connotations and references that your joke relies upon are lost on some readers and not others.

Humour that relies on double meanings and double entendres requires the listener/reader to know both halves, and to be able to juxtapose them.

Some jokes are only intelligible by select numbers of people, and the joke itself is only funny because of this (There are only 10 kinds of people - those that understand binary & those that don't)

Humour, just like offence, is a perceived quality of a joke. Just because you don't find it funny, doesn't mean that it isn't. Just because you don't find it offensive, doesn't mean it isn't.

:D

Q: Why did the cat fall off the roof.
A: It lost it's mu.

(Example of joke that only a subset will understand).

Q: Who led the pedant's revolt?
A: Which Tyler

Who could this possibly offend?

[i]Some jokes are only intelligible by select numbers of people, and the joke itself is only funny because of this (There are only 10 kinds of people that understand binary - those that do & those that don't)
[/B]

I get that joke, but I don't think it's funny, but I know some programmers that would think it's hysterical.

What is "funny" about something is so hard to explain though.

Originally posted by max
Q: Who led the pedant's revolt?
A: Which Tyler

Who could this possibly offend?

That's mildly funny, but only because it's so esoteric. I guarantee no more than 5% of forum members would understand it. So it could be said that you're using elitism as comedy in this instance.

Originally posted by mojoworking
That's mildly funny, but only because it's so esoteric. I guarantee no more than 5% of forum members would understand it. So it could be said that you're using elitism as comedy in this instance.

No, I'm using comedy as comedy in this instance. I find it funny and that's enough for me. Whether it's esoteric or elitist is irrelevant. If it makes somebody even raise an eyebrow in acceptance of it's humour and doesn't offend anyone then it's OK by me.

There are 10 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary and those that don't.

Q. What did the deaf, dumb and blind kid get for christmas?
A. A.I.D.S.


That doesn't offend anyone! It's a medical tragedy that is!!:gag:

Originally posted by mojoworking
On the contrary, I'm REALLY bloody upset,

D. Attenborough (Sir)
c/o Guy's Hospital
London W1 obviously sir this happened when you were much younger and might i add what a good documentery it was ( allas without sound )

Originally posted by mojoworking
That's mildly funny, but only because it's so esoteric. I guarantee no more than 5% of forum members would understand it. So it could be said that you're using elitism as comedy in this instance.

OK, so hands up all those Forum members who understood Max's joke? (And found it amusing)

That's me, for one. Maybe not so esoteric after all then?

StarSparkle :)

Originally posted by StarSparkle

That's me, for one. Maybe not so esoteric after all then?



The joke depends on knowledge of an event in a certain period of English history.

Hardly esoteric ;)

Originally posted by Greybeard
The joke depends on knowledge of an event in a certain period of English history.

Hardly esoteric ;)

It seems like you don't really know the meaning of the word esoteric - ie of or relating to that which is known by a restricted number of people.

I would venture that Wat Tyler and the peasant's revolt of 1381 is hardly common knowledge, especially on this forum where many people have a problem spelling words of more than 3 letters.

Is it possible to tell a joke without offending someone?

err i don't know lets see.................

bloke walks into a sex shop and asks for a blow up doll

fella says muslim or normal

whats the difference says the bloke

muslim one blows its self up says the fella


:hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:

Originally posted by mojoworking
It seems like you don't really know the meaning of the word esoteric - ie of or relating to that which is known by a restricted number of people.

I would venture that Wat Tyler and the peasant's revolt of 1381 is hardly common knowledge, especially on this forum where many people have a problem spelling words of more than 3 letters.

Simply not being common knowledge is not a qualification for being esoteric. Esoteric knowledge is not only outside common knowledge, but also beyond its grasp. M-theory or quantum chronodynamics are pretty esoteric. British history is not, especially an event as pivotal as the peasants revolt.

Kirky - I think you will find that is quite offensive.

I didn't know about the peasant's revolt of 1381.

Originally posted by kirky
err i don't know lets see.................

bloke walks into a sex shop and asks for a blow up doll

fella says muslim or normal

whats the difference says the bloke

muslim one blows its self up says the fella


:hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:


Now that's a funny joke. Why would this be deemed offensive? Its a sad fact of life that suicide bombers are mainly Muslim at the moment although I am sure given a new conflict somewhere in the world the other religions will soon catch up again.

Suicide bombers on the whole are really inconsiderate, they never think of the poor buggers who have to clean all there mess up!!

So yes, it is possible to tell a joke without offending someone, but if you do offend someone, others (who are not offended) will probably find it funnier...

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
Simply not being common knowledge is not a qualification for being esoteric. Esoteric knowledge is not only outside common knowledge, but also beyond its grasp. M-theory or quantum chronodynamics are pretty esoteric. British history is not, especially an event as pivotal as the peasants revolt.


Despite what you say, the definition of esoteric remains: of or relating to that which is known by a restricted number of people. Nothing more, or less.

In the context of this forum therefore, not many people would have knowledge of the peasants revolt of 1381 and it is therefore an esoteric topic.

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
Simply not being common knowledge is not a qualification for being esoteric. Esoteric knowledge is not only outside common knowledge, but also beyond its grasp. M-theory or quantum chronodynamics are pretty esoteric. British history is not, especially an event as pivotal as the peasants revolt.

Kirky - I think you will find that is quite offensive.

could you translate:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Originally posted by kirky
could you translate:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Now that is funny and no-one's offended. :clap:

Originally posted by mojoworking
It seems like you don't really know the meaning of the word esoteric - ie of or relating to that which is known by a restricted number of people.


Well I do but perhaps it has a different meaning for me than for you. It is certainly relevant to an enlightened or uninitiated minority, but isn't English history general knowledge amongst the English any longer ?

How about this one ?

"My wife reckoned size didn't matter but then all my wallpaper fell off the wall"

That might be considered esoteric.

tell a joke.....smile...laugh....be happy.

why has this country become so analytical...too much jerry springer me thinks!

i'll tell jokes about any1, anything and take **** outta myself til the cows come home!

laughter is too good...and i love to laugh.


if i drop my trousers im sure you would all laugh!!...mind you it has been cold recently :heyhey:

Even the most innocent jokes can offend someone.. my Dad was killed crossing the road dressed up as a chicken

Originally posted by bielby
Even the most innocent jokes can offend someone.. my Dad was killed crossing the road dressed up as a chicken

Why was he crossing the road?

The difference with innocent jokes offending is that they are innocent! :D

Originally posted by bielby
Even the most innocent jokes can offend someone.. my Dad was killed crossing the road dressed up as a chicken why was the chicken crossing the road ? strangely enough my dad died drinking a bottle of long life beer

Originally posted by kirky
err i don't know lets see.................

bloke walks into a sex shop and asks for a blow up doll

fella says muslim or normal

whats the difference says the bloke

muslim one blows its self up says the fella


:hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:


Like that one!

Originally posted by kirky
err i don't know lets see.................

bloke walks into a sex shop and asks for a blow up doll

fella says muslim or normal

whats the difference says the bloke

muslim one blows its self up says the fella


:hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:

PMSL!!!!!!!!!!:clap: :clap: :D :D

Originally posted by Greybeard
Well I do but perhaps it has a different meaning for me than for you. It is certainly relevant to an enlightened or uninitiated minority, but isn't English history general knowledge amongst the English any longer ?

How about this one ?

"My wife reckoned size didn't matter but then all my wallpaper fell off the wall"

That might be considered esoteric.

I will have to remember that one. Superb.

Q: Why did the cat fall off the roof.
A: It lost it's mu.

(Example of joke that only a subset will understand).
Over a year later, I still have no idea.

Care to put me out of my misery?

I'm not really sure what that's about Phan.

Here's a google definition search:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=define%3A+mu&btnG=Search&meta=

Or maybe you could email these guys (http://www.globalmuonline.com/) they might know? (Although they look a little odd!)

Courtesy of Peter Kay's Leonard De Tompkinson character on 'That Peter Kay Thing'

My friend Billy's got a ten foot willy
He showed it to the girl next door
She thought it was a snake
And hit it with a rake
And now it's only 5 foot 4!

A ditty really but I think it's great:clap:

Long live comedy:thumbsup:

However it was written by Mike Harding in the early 70's. So Peter Kay's pinched it then ;)

I think it is possible to tell a joke without offending someone. To me, you're kind of bonding too. Or giving respect to each other by avoiding too overly offensive jokes. A colleague said one to me once about a girl named Cheung or Chan. I cannot remember how the joke went, but to me... It was *so* cleverly done. It did make me laugh. Yes. :) It didn't offend me, but the opposite, cos to me, it meant he can emphasize. It's to do with a girl's name, and being submissive etc. To me, it was a well done chinese joke, and I got it.

Humour is different in different culture. I think with people in HK, slapsticks humour works best. It's why Jackie Chan is so famous for his stunts. You may think it's silly, but it is also why people like Stephen Chow is so famous with his cantonese dialect slangs which are hidden swear words. People in HK are kinda classist/ettiquette mad now, so there's (apparently) a whole culture on how to swear but without saying the swear words.

I think anyone can get it wrong these days. There was a tv pilot called 'The Missing Ch!nk' on C4 a while back. Yes, it was done by chinese commedians, and did it kick up a fuss on some online chinese community website. A lot of people complained to the beeb. Obviously, not many British-chinese can identify with the title, or some of the jokes used in the sketch.

I think the people tried to recreate another 'Goodness Gracious Me' programme. Where the jokes have an Asian theme to it, yet quite acceptable and non-pc, cos there is an element that the general public can identify with. That's why it's so popular. I don't think that the C4 programme was on the same level.

So yes, chinese commedians peed off the chinese community. Ironic ? Maybe the person who thought of the title also tried to claim back the word Ch!nk, but obviously, he was on his own on that one !

Yes, it's all true.... obviously, even the commedians don't get it right either ! :D

"mu" = coefficient of friction, lack of, therefore cats slips.
another joke busted, albeit a year later, *sigh*
:)

The whole point of a joke is to be funny, I've had loadsa jokes thrown my way when i was growing up, being half italian i always had the "all italians are wimps" jokes. I found them funny i was never once offended by them cos i could always see the funny side of it...........you know why ? cos its a bloody joke !

The is a bit of mardyness in the our country these days, reminds me when i was a kid and took the micheal outta people and the 1st thing they did was shout "MUM TELL HIM" and thats what seems to happen if you were to tell a fat joke, they would insist i have a problem with all fat people or that im "anti-fattist" if thats a real word lol of course they would say this after they took the pie outta their mouth mu hu ha ha

The point im tryin to make is, people in general still find jokes funny but the people who decide what is right or wrong obviously dont

The old joke that would not be PC now but shows that things can be taken the wrong way.

A west indian chap and a Jew are stood a bus stop. The west indian says to the other feller "Wot time is de next bus djue."
The chap replies" Ten past you BL..k G.t"
No offence intended to anyone but oh how it is to miss-understood

36 hrs on a Greyhound to Florida we droped off at the smallest station I;ve ever seen,pushing though the door at 3oclock in the morning and still only 100% the place alive with everykind of flying insect dive bombing my head I pulled up to the bar for a wake me up ,A tall mountain man dressed only in bib overalls sat down along side, and I evesdroped on the slowest converation i've ever heard.Could I all have a coffee, asking of the young black girl,Yes sur you sure can have a coffee,thank you ma'am,sur do you all want cream in your coffee or do you want it black, well ma;am i dont cream in my coffee but i;m gon'a have cream in my coffee,but sur if you dont want cream in your coffee why you all gon'a have cream in your coffee.well ma'am if one of these bugs drops in my coffee i want to see it when it floats to the top:hihi: :hihi: A true story but i do regret offending any double winged dragon flies

I had to think long and hard to remember a joke that would not offend anyone, so here it is:-

Twenty years after emigrating to Australia a man returns to visit his family, staying with his parents he moves back in to his old bed room. In the wardrobe is one of his old suits which he tries on to see if it still fits, in the pocket is a ticket from the local cobbler, He remembers liking the shoes and decides to call into the cobbler when he's in the town. When he presents the ticket to the cobbler and asks if he still has the shoes after all this time? The cobbler replies he's been busy and the shoes will be ready on Thursday.

Its not a very good joke but it is clean and I can't see any thing that could offend any one.

Guy sat at a bar orders a drink and downs it one then pulls out a picture out of his pocket and puts it back in his pocket then asks the barman for another drink downing it one again takes out the picture looks at it and puts it back doing this about 5 times the barman says i dont mind pouring drinks for you all night friend but why do you look at that picture after each drink?
the guy says it the missus when she starts to look good i know its time to go home...:hihi:

hope i didnt offend, tickled me though

hows the pain today I asked my drunk and cripple friend,felt pain twice worst than this ! I was up in the north wild hunting & fishing country when I just had to go, so pants down I bobed down behind the nearest maple tree, where hid in the fall leaves was a staked bear trap,dumping on which it came up and grabbed me by the balls,Ouch Ooow the pain ,the agony.And waiting for the tears to stop running down his cheeks,was the second time i asked,when i got to the end of that 6ft chain
10 in the morning & dead drunk he could still catch me and i was stone cold sober.:hihi: :hihi: