# Ever say something as a joke, and have someone take you seriously? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 4, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615 "2008-12-04T02:27:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/81 "2008-12-05T15:06:19Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > But that’s the thing, and the point of the joke: you think “Really? 40%? That many?”, then run the numbers in your head and do a “D’oh!”. But Stupid Boss just COULD NOT GET that any two days out of five are going to be 40%, whether they’re Mondays and Fridays or Thursdays and Tuesdays, and regarded any attempts to prove same with the sort of bewildered belligerence you’d get trying to teach a chimpanzee to knit. Did we used to work together? ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/82 "2008-12-05T16:08:52Z")
> [@ThreadPirateRoberts](#): > > That’s evil **Slee** I am one of those bright but gullible types and I personally think thats evil,hilarious but evil. First off, let me say I am _appalled_ at the punctuation (and lack thereof) in this post. You come over here, right now, young lady, and let me “red pencil” this for you! 😃 To the whole **Quasi** / **BarnOwl** incident, first off: :eek: Second, I’m glad to see that **BarnOwl** has come to his senses and aplologized! (I like the mis-spelling, too. I’m keeping it!) Now, to the OP: Yep, happens all the time. Once, a friend of my daughter’s needed to move in for a while. She explained that she didn’t have much money to pay us for room/board, but was more than happy to help out with housework, babysitting, etc. She said she actually _enjoyed_ doing dishes. I looked at her. I said “Wait, you _like_ doing dishes?” “Oh, yes!” she assured me. Perfectly deadpan, I looked her in the eye and said “Get out of my house, you freak” She went :eek: and started gathering her purse, etc. before I cracked up and told her to sit back down, I was just kidding. Another time, I had a Black and Decker coffee maker with a thermal carafe. Loved it, but one day, I dropped the carafe and all the glass inside shattered. Well, I found a Black and Decker store and went in to see if I could buy a replacement carafe. The fellow in the store asked me what had happened to make the carafe malfunction and I said “Gee, I dunno. I only dropped it on the concrete floor that one time, and ever since then, all the glass inside is shattered. . .” and he just looked at me, and I could _tell_ he was trying to decide how to tell me that wasn’t covered under warranty and I’d have to _pay_ for a replacement. Then I laughed and explained that I was _joking_, and obviously, it had broken because I was a klutz, and had no problem buying a new one. There were many times early in our marriage/relationship that my hubby didn’t understand my sense of humor. But he mostly gets it now. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/83 "2008-12-05T18:17:52Z")
That the humor one finds in a joke is really based on their past experiences and current mind set. So you can tell the same joke in the same manner to someone and they will find it funny. But if they don’t have the previous background experiences or a current conducive state of mind then it isn’t going to work. So, you see ladies and gentleman, the old adage really is really true… Perception is 90% of the Ha! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/84 "2008-12-05T20:28:41Z")
…stupid humorless Secret Service agents… :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Solfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Solfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solfy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/85 "2008-12-05T21:07:35Z")
I’ve got a sense of humor so dry it could be used as a dessicant. In college, my roommate and I claimed to share a brain, so similar were our thought processes. One afternoon we were out shopping with a group of friends, talking about an upcoming night out. Roomie said, “I’m so excited, I might even bother to put on makeup!” To which I replied, “Geez, I wish you would. You’re so ugly we’re tired of looking at you.” I said this because it was so patently untrue - roomie had a gorgeous complexion that didn’t need makeup (which is why makeup only got trotted out for special occasions), and I mistakenly assumed she’d realize this. Plus this is not the sort of thing you tell a person except in jest (unless you’re a real ass). But it misfired and stung, and though I’ve apologized many times in the intervening twelve years, I still regret it. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/86 "2008-12-05T21:53:15Z")
> [@Solfy](#): > > I’ve got a sense of humor so dry it could be used as a dessicant. Do Not Eat The Desiccant. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/87 "2008-12-05T22:10:01Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Do Not Eat The Desiccant. Even if it’s misspelled. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/88 "2008-12-05T22:35:15Z")
> [@Paragod22510](#): > > The conversation went on for roughly 10 minutes. I fell back asleep and was awakened again about 5 minutes later by the local Sheriff’s department, checking on my welfare. I laughed a bit as I explained my story. I knew one of the officers so I was able to go back to sleep without being admitted to a psych hospital. He told me that it was funny, but I should never do that again. Yeah, I know someone else who did this; pissed off at someone who couldn’t do something correctly at a doctor’s office and was whining about not being able to do it as well, she said something like “Well, I guess I’ll have to kill myself so you don’t have to worry about it any more.” She was quite embrassed when the sheriff showed up at her house. So, we’ve all learned a lesson - when on the phone with someone annoying, don’t joke about killing yourself, or they’ll come to see if you need to be placed under a psych hold. As for the OP, I think I’ve mentioned my dumb former coworker Erin before. (she’s the one who thought black people didn’t need to wash their hair “cause it falls out when it’s dirty, and is replaced by clean hair.”) One day Alissa and I were asked to by our supervisor to bring some stuff out to the clearance tent. Erin, nosey thing that she was, demanded to know where we were going with our arms full of store property. Feeling snarky, I said, “Oh, we’re bringing this stuff out to our cars. We figured we’d sell it on the internet.” Erin immediately went wide-eyed and started to tell us that she was pretty sure that would be stealing. Then Rae punched her and told her, “They’re joking, you idiot!” Apparently she was still being convinced that we weren’t doing anything wrong when we returned from the clearance tent… ---
**Author:** ![eldowan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@eldowan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eldowan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/89 "2008-12-06T04:05:26Z")
I’m sure I have more, but here are the two that I remember most fondly. In high school, a friend and I spent time with a _super_ gullible girl. She was nice, but would believe anything. And I mean anything. She was talking about some of her classmates being pregnant, and you know the saying about how it must be the water that gets the girls pregnant? She believed it. So we played in and convinced her that since she drank the water she was pregnant. Oh how she bought it, got all stressed out and worried, the whole kitten kabootle. And then there was the time we convinced her she contracted Ebola. No joke. I wish I could remember more details, but as far as she was concerned she had it. ---
**Author:** ![Incref](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@Incref](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incref)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/90 "2008-12-06T06:50:07Z")
I have a quite a dry and often self deprecating sense of humour but I rarely find people take me seriously at home in Australia. I must say though that when I was over in a Canada I was constantly explaining to people that I was joking, I didn’t realise how much I joked until I was greeted with a chorus of “Really?” after every silly comment. I think what can often be funnier (but ultimately more embarrassing) is when someone is being serious and you think they are kidding, try pulling of a look of concern mid chortle… I’m off to start a thread! ---
**Author:** ![EpicNonsense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@EpicNonsense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EpicNonsense)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/91 "2008-12-06T14:31:25Z")
I think I’m having one of those moments. My good friend was giving me critique on a site logo/name design and he suggested I use a different font (We were discussing it over the phone) Anyway, as I was adjusting the image I was like “All right I’m gonna upload it again so you can laugh at it”… not in a serious tone at all. Obviously joking. I was laughing too. Just after I say that he disconnects. Call back… maybe it was a dropped call. No answer. Call half hour later. No answer. Send text message hour later no reply. Called about 90 mins later. Phone was off. And I just got finished reading [THIS](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=495970) thread too… wtf. Similar to the reason **BarnOwl** got pissed. He was trying to help out **Quasi** (chagned his name now) but Quasi joked with him and **BarnOwl** took it uber seriously and flipped out. I hope I don’t go through this shit or I am never being sarcastic again!.. EVER! ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/92 "2008-12-06T17:20:03Z")
> [@eldowan](#): > > kitten kabootle Kitten kabootle. Kitten kabootle. Kitten. Hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/93 "2008-12-06T19:50:56Z")
> [@eldowan](#): > > Oh how she bought it, got all stressed out and worried, the whole kitten kabootle. Kit and kaboodle. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/94 "2008-12-06T22:06:03Z")
This happens all the time. The most usual pattern is that **Hamish** will say something and I’ll respond with some insult that is so extravagantly, floridly horrible that (I think) nobody could possibly take it seriously – I mean the kind where you work in Hitler and dead kittens if at all possible – and he’s hurt by it. Then I spend the next fifteen minutes trying to convince him that I was kidding and thought he would get it. I don’t know why I still try this. ---
**Author:** ![MizQuirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@MizQuirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizQuirk)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/95 "2008-12-07T04:45:24Z")
Oh yeah – many years ago my boisterously funny sister-in-law with a very strong personality was visiting and the two of us decided to get out the Hoyle book on card games and try a new one. She started reading something like “person left of the dealer gets choice of chair” and to be funny I immediately said “I want that one, the one you’re in”. Well, as was her way, she jumped up and started cursing as she picked up all her stuff, bitching about having to move her purse and ash tray and drink and everything to the other side of the table, and why wasn’t I moving faster to get out of her way, etc. It was the most hilarious thing I’d ever seen and we had a good old time laughing and playing cards all afternoon. Over the years since then, after I’d moved away, in our letters I occasionally expressed my enjoyment of her reaction that day and even thanked her for the funniest moment of my life. Imagine my chagrin when in her reply to one of these letters, she told me how much it bothered her for me to say that, as she didn’t find it entertaining at all to keep having it brought up when it had distressed her so. Anyone who knew her would not have dreamed she wasn’t clowning as usual, and needless to say I apologized profusely (though I can still get practically hysterical when I think about it). Not sure what the lesson was, but it taught me one. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/96 "2008-12-07T06:06:47Z")
All the time, not last year I was terrible at keeping a straight face. As I got to college something changed that, probably me driving since I have to watch the roads which let me finally graduate from the college of deadpan snarking. However, my new friend has Aspergers, and not the self-diagnosed stuff, the “I was diagnosed and put in special programs and schools” stuff. As such, he has a little bit of an issue with sarcasm, he can get it if he tries, but a lot of times he fails. Unfortunately I graduated from the Questionable Content school of conversation, meaning that only about 10% of what I say can be taken seriously. He get’s the “Wow, you hate him, I know a guy that can whack him for you” and “you’re so horribly \” sarcasm, but doesn’t catch on the really subtle stuff. He’s getting better though. One potentially unfortunate one came from my friend to another friend. My friend learned this bit from me, if we had a joking disagreement I’d say: “Meet me in the bad part of town after dark and we’ll settle this.” Obviously it’s a veiled joke meaning “You’ll probably die there, and I’m certainly not gonna show up, so I’ll win by default.” Well friend A used it on friend B. I’m certain you can guess the rest, but just in case. Friend A gets a call circa midnight from Friend B, waiting in the run down part of downtown Tucson, which he went to on foot. Friend A went well over the speed limit to pick him up afterwords, and then we all made a very large circle of “what the fuck were you thinking!?” The next day after we heard about it. :eek: > [@Khadaji](#): > > 20+ years ago, if you were bitching about someone excessively, I’d say: Want to have them killed? I’ll do it for X dollars. (I forget the X.) > > I ran a twofer at Chistmas. > > I was in college at the time and I said this to a student about a professor. Another student over heard me and told the professor, who then reported me to the campus cops. > > Not too much came of it, but I stopped making that joke. > > The woman was a bit nuts. She later dated a man with whom I was friends and she claimed that his ex was calling her and threatening her. This is why I changed mine while around areas with security running about to “Wow, if you hate him that much… I know a guy who knows a guy, let’s leave it at that.” ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/97 "2008-12-07T10:08:34Z")
I have a pretty dry/black sense of humour but fortunately so does a lot of Britain so it’s generally okay. However the best one of these I have is this: Following my cousin’s first communion we went to my aunt’s flat for tea and a buffet lunch. I (aged about 12 at this point, I hasten to add) was sitting and talking to their Roman Catholic priest for about half an hour about this and that, mainly my school and a bit about religion and he clearly thought I was an adorable little tyke. Later on my mother said “Oh I saw you talking to Father So and So for quite a while, what were you talking about?”. I responded “I was telling him about a book I’m planning to write called '100 and 1 ways to perform a Satanic rite”. My mother: :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: I had to very quickly and strenuously make clear that I was in fact JOKING (and the fact that I had to do so I’ve never let my mother live down as she has just as black a sense of humour as me and she’s very embarrassed that she was so easily whooshed). For years after that the priest in question always asked after me when speaking to my aunt as I’d made such a good impression. The irony of all this, given that as an adult I actually AM a Satanist, is not lost on me. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/98 "2008-12-07T21:46:36Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > …stupid humorless Secret Service agents… :mad: Oh man! What happened? You really shouldn’t joke with them, it’s part of their job to take _everything_ seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/99 "2008-12-07T21:54:47Z")
> [@sjc](#): > > Oh man! What happened? You really shouldn’t joke with them, it’s part of their job to take _everything_ seriously. Hmmm… either you have just instantiated the title of this thread-----or I have. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![eldowan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@eldowan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eldowan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615/100 "2008-12-08T20:30:45Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > Kit and kaboodle. No, kitten kabootle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-say-something-as-a-joke-and-have-someone-take-you-seriously/475615.md?page=6)