I have several coworkers and acquaintances (I could never be “friends” with such people) who are totally lacking in any sense of humor. Pleasant, friendly people, but if you tell them a joke—carefully prefacing it with “this is a joke”—they will put on a frozen smile and go “ha. ha.” as they have learned that this is the appropriate response.
Example: Today we got in the first draft of an article in which “creamy chilled corn soup” (an alarming enough idea as-is) was written “screamy chilled corn soup.” I staggered into the editor’s office, laughing helplessly, pointing to the offending phrase. She looked at it and said, po-faced, “Oh. That should be creamy chilled corn soup—just take the ‘s’ off.”
What can you do with people like this? How do they survive?!
Frankly, I have a problem with someone who sees that lame little typo and ends up laughing helplessly. A wry smile, maybe, but if you’re in hysterics over it, you’d probably laugh at Adam Sandler. :rolleyes:
I have a not-so-good gaming friend who laughs his fool head off when he obviously has no clue what I’m talking about. Everybody else is staring at me like I just told them “I like string,” and Dave is practically wetting himself, he’s laughing so hard.
I wrote a credit analysis many years ago and instead of typing “as they have in the past”, it came out “as they HEAVE in the past”. I laughed and laughed and laughed.
Seriously, I think that people without a sense of humor are dangerous, especially when they get into a position of power.
This is one reason that, while I didn’t vote for him, and thought him a poor president, I never got into the Hate Bill Clinton mode. He does enough of a sense of humor to keep from taking himself too seriously. Someone without humor also has no self-doubt. If they decide that a particular course is the correct one, don’t stand in their way.
Hillary Clinton is an example of this. She hasn’t anything even close to resembling a sense of humor. If she ever got back into the White House, her presidency would be about as trustworthy and successful as Nixon’s – another singularly humorless personality.
This is how we manage to distinguish between us real humaniods and the brain eating space aliens that are taking over the planet.
Now go and put a stake through that editor’s heart for the sake of all mankind.
Just because we don’t find the same things funny as the majority, doesn’t mean we completely lack any sense of humor at all. We just laugh at different things.
The blimp story and the prehensile rectum story had me rolling again yesterday even though I’ve read them before. But the screamy chilled corn soup doesn’t really do it for me, sorry.
I remember thumbing through the local newspaper one day. And finding a full-page flyer that stated a local men’s wear shop had “Dress Shits” on sale. 20% off, IIRC.
That was almost thirty years ago, and it still makes me chuckle to this very day. Typos are fodder for humor.
Screamy chilled corn soup consumption may very well lead to Dress Shits. IMHO.
My family is FUCKING hilarious. My husband has a very unsophisticated sense of humor, but he at least gets the simple, prat-fall and goofiness stuff. I can keep him, but I save my best material for my dad.
My ex…now THIS is truly pathetic. I saw him one evening early on in our relationship and began relaying a funny joke I’d heard that day. He said, “Stop. Don’t tell me a joke. I don’t think anything’s funny.” I should have backed away slowly…but Nooooooooo! I wasted the funniest years of my life on that man!
