Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 23, 1993 TAG: 9302230029
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WENDI GIBSON RICHERT NEWSFUN WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
YOUNGSTERS MAKE GOOD PUNSTERS
Three pieces of rope decide to go out to dinner. So they go to a fancy restaurant and the waiter says, "I'm sorry, but we do not seat rope."So the ropes leave and head for another restaurant. There, the same thing happens.
Before going to yet another restaurant, one piece of rope ties himself into a knot. When the ropes arrive, the waiter says "We do not seat rope. Are you a rope?"
The rope replies, "No, I'm a frayed knot."
- Submitted by Benny Webb of Willis
Lots of the jokes our readers sent the MiniForum ended like Benny Webb's: They were funny because they were full of puns.
A pun is a play on words. It's a way of saying something that has more than one meaning, like in the joke above.
"A frayed knot" doesn't mean the same thing as "afraid not," but when said aloud, the two sound the same. The fact that a frayed rope tied into a knot can say "I'm afraid not," and mean both at the same time, is funny to some people.
There is a pun in this joke, too: Q. Why didn't the skeleton cross the road? A. Because he didn't have the guts.
In this joke, the funny part is that the phrase "didn't have the guts" has two meanings. Of course the skeleton is gutless. But he was also afraid to cross the street, which is part of what the phrase means.
Naturally, the jokes were funnier without the explanation. After all, jokes are, says Roanoke Comedy Club owner Jim Butler, "so impossible to define. It's just so unfunny to talk about them. Now, if you threw a pie in my face, that would be funny!"
Butler would know. He hears comics perform on his stage most every week. He's heard some really belly-busting stuff, and at the same time, he's heard a few not-so-funny things, too.
Butler says many of the jokes kids tell are full of play-on-words stuff. He explains that when kids begin to understand a language, they notice words can have more than one meaning. Finding the pun - that twist - is fun.
You can practice with words you hear every day. Start with a list of words that sound alike but have different meanings (these are called "homonyms") - words like eight/ate, be/bee, flee/flea, heal/heel, know/no, sun/son, two/to/too, sea/see, so/sow/sew, tale/tail. Or find a single word that has two meanings and make up something funny using it.
"The most obvious source of humor is puns," Butler says. Though there are tons of other jokes, which are unexplainably funny. "[Puns] are probably the simplest to make up."
Which brings us to the "$64 gazillion question," says Butler. Who makes up these jokes?
Butler tells us, "Joe America." While not everybody can successfully tell a joke, anybody can make up one. It's quite impossible, though, to trace a joke back to its origin, he says.
"Somebody says something funny, and then it's told in the office, and, bam, it's all over the country."
It takes a truly hilarious joke to travel the world. Unfunny ones don't make it. Some jokes, however, that are told and retold may be funny, but they're not nice. This includes the whole slew of dumb blonde and ethnic jokes built on stereotypes that aren't necessarily true.
Butler says "any joke that's mean-spirited, or makes fun of a whole group of people" is a sign the teller is "heading down the wrong track.
"You can poke fun at people, but you can do it in a gentle way," he says. Offending folks may be funny to some, but not to the offended.
Butler admits there is a fine line between funny and mean jokes, so joke-tellers should use caution. The funniest jokes will get laughs from all your friends. And if they don't, scratch them from your joke book.
Here are a few more jokes for you. See if you can spot the two that use puns.
Q. Why did Mickey Mouse go to space? A. He had to get Pluto. Heather Lynn, Buena Vista.
Q. Why do golfers bring an extra pair of pants to the golf course? A. To put on in case they get a hole-in-one. Megan Nietzold, Blacksburg.