Page 72 - The Language of Humour

‘MY MOTHER-IN-LAW…’ 59
cynic, as many of his definitions in The Devil’s Dictionary (1957) have
this characteristic.

BORE, n. A person who talks when you wish him to listen.

Activity with text

Identify the butts of humour in the following and comment on the
stance of the teller.

1 ‘ZHow should they answer?’ In reply to the question ‘Why
do Jews always answer a question with a question?’
(Abigail Van Buren)
2 I never believed in Santa Claus because I knew no white
dude would come into my neighbourhood after dark. (Dick
Gregory)
3 Why are all single women thin and all married women fat?
Because single women come home, take one look in the
fridge and go to bed. And married women come home, take
one look in the bed and go to the fridge.
4 You never see a Jewish mugger. They would never say,
‘Give me your money or 111 kill you.’ They say ‘Listen,
you don’t have to give me ALL your money. We’ll have a
cup of tea and a cake and talk about it.’ They’re not
CALLED muggers; they are called lawyers and solicitors.
(Jackie Mason, former rabbi)
5 I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-
law. (Martin Luther King)
6 Civil war in Yugoslavia? That’s not going to get the
washing up done or the beds made. (Jo Brand)
7 My girlfriend has left me. If that isn’t bad enough, it was for
someone who looks exactly like me. (Phil Nee, Chinese
American comedian)
8 Woman: Do you think it’s all right to wear erotic
underwear, or do you think it’s just pandering to patriarchal
fantasies to the point where we’ve internalised male values
so profoundly that we even take a narcissistic pleasure in the