ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 13, 1996 TAG: 9606130010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: beth macy
SOURCE: BETH MACY
Heard the one about the two alligators in the Everglades?
One alligator says to the other: ``For a budget airline, the food's not bad.''
It's sick.
It's disgusting.
It's in extremely poor taste (no pun intended).
If you chuckled anyway, though, it doesn't mean you're doomed to hell - or a course on political correctness.
``Sick humor stems from the fact that Americans have a hard time talking about death and tragedy,'' says Radford University professor Alastair Harris, who teaches a class on the psychology of humor.
``Sick humor enables you to deal with situations like ValuJet that are, for most people, unspeakable. It helps people cope.''
How long did it take for those Challenger jokes to start making the circuits?
Where are the astronauts spending their next vacation?
All over Florida.
And what about the once-ubiquitous O.J. Simpson barbs?
Hey, did you hear O.J. stopped by the evidence room on his way out of the courts building?
He said, ``Can I have my gloves back now?''
One can only imagine some tasteless joke factory operating somewhere out there. Maybe there's a computer geek trying to be the first on the cyberblock with a topical twist.
Or maybe it's your local stockbroker trying to break the ice with a potential client. ``Wall Street had the Challenger jokes going about two seconds after it happened,'' says my friend Kate, a bond broker at the time.
Traders use jokes to break the ice - before launching into the hard-sell. ``Basically they sit and B.S. on the phone all day to people all over the world,'' she says. ``The jokes are an excuse to get on the phone to someone, `Didja hear the one about...?' And then, `So, what are ya doin' today?' ''
ValuJet jokes, already dated, have been replaced by the latest election-year humor - always a bonanza.
Did you see Bob Dole's interview on MTV? They asked him if he wore boxers or briefs.
His answer: ``Depends.''
(That joke, courtesy of a Richmond political reporter - another good source for news of the twisted.)
Sick humor is probably as old as language itself, professor Harris explains. One caveman says to another...
Among the first recorded laughs, Little Willie jokes were four-line rhymers popular in the late 1800s, when child work houses clashed with the rapidly changing Victorian culture.
Little Willie in bows and ashes
Fell in the fire and got burned to ashes.
In the winter when the weather is chilly,
No one likes to poke up Willie.
``Humor itself has a lot of benefits to individuals,'' Harris says. ``It helps people cope with stressful situations.''
Jokes about Jewish concentration camps, for instance, are believed to have been coined by the prisoners, not the guards. ``Because in some cases humor is all we have left to help us cope,'' he adds. ``It helps keep us balanced.''
Jokes posted on the Internet are rapidly replacing the multi-Xeroxed lists of jokes workers used to copy when the boss wasn't looking. ``How to Spot a Redneck,'' ``97 Reasons Why Cucumbers are Better Than Men,'' and all that.
Just yesterday, in fact, a reader named Leigh sent me an e-mail with an attachment of the latest faux Barbies to hit cyberspace, including:
* Birkenstock Barbie: ``Finally, a Barbie doll with horizontal feet and comfortable sandals; made from recyclable materials.''
* Murder, Barbie Wrote: ``Whenever this elder stateswoman of the Barbie set (she's 27!) arrives in the playhouse, all the other dolls mysteriously disappear.''
And my personal favorite:
* Admin Barbie: ``Works 20-hour days for little pay (80 percent of Ken's salary), and is the lowest on the totem pole despite being the one who actually runs the group. Comes with mini-laptop. Pull the string on her back and she'll schedule a meeting with your other dolls, replace the toner cartridge in the laser printer, coordinate a re-org and a move, and order airline tickets for Director Ken.''
Now that's topical humor.
Beth Macy's column runs in Tuesday and Thursday Extra. She can be reached at 981-3435 or by e-mail at bmacyroanoke.infi.net or even the old-fashioned way at P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010.|
LENGTH: Medium: 89 linesby CNB