# Going straight to hell (warning: discussion of offensive jokes) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 28, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-straight-to-hell-warning-discussion-of-offensive-jokes/310248 "2005-06-28T19:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-straight-to-hell-warning-discussion-of-offensive-jokes/310248/21 "2005-06-30T16:19:09Z")
> [@gatopescado](#): > > Joke 2 is just plain dumb. They were dead by oven time. They screamed in the _gas chamber_. :eek: Why am I laughing my ass off at that? ! Joke #1, I’ll give it a 1 simply because I’d have reservations about rolling up to someone in the street, announcing to them my full name and address and then laying it on them. But the same goes for just about any joke. Joke #2 (looks sideways at **gatopescado** ) I give an 8, but I’ll admit it still makes me giggle. gato’s correction is funnier still, and here’s why: For me, the more unexpected the punchline, the better, as long as it is relevant to the setup. Unexpected can be Jesus’ pun in joke #1, or it can be the extremely shocking & socially unacceptable punchline of #2. How DARE you go there! Works for me. An example is “How does an Arkansas mother know when her daughter has had her first period? She tastes blood on her son’s penis.” All kinds of wrong there, oedepal felation, incest which predates menstruation (because the joke wasn’t about the hymen, which presumably was broken long before sexual maturity). This one makes me laugh to this day. And I am not a proponent of incest and child molestation, nor do I have anything against Arkansas residents–just the bumpkin stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-straight-to-hell-warning-discussion-of-offensive-jokes/310248/22 "2005-06-30T20:09:30Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The second joke is general, and refers to anyone who died in the holocaust. Actually, it’s even more general than that; the verb is present tense, so while it’s based on a Holocaust reference, it’s actually worded in such a way as to suggest that _all presently living Jews_ are fodder for genocide, not just the ones who died sixty-some years ago. If the joke is reworded — “what’s the difference between _this_ pizza and a Jew? the pizza _didn’t_ scream when it went into the oven” — it loses, for me, maybe half a point on the offense-o-meter. I won’t argue this will be true for everyone, but I perceive a subtle distinction in intent by the change. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-straight-to-hell-warning-discussion-of-offensive-jokes/310248/23 "2005-06-30T20:41:29Z")
Joke number 2 is something I thought was very funny when I was in junior high school. It’s not the Holocaust reference that was funny to me, it’s the image of a pizza screaming. That just makes me smile. Nevertheless, I don’t think it’s funny anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-straight-to-hell-warning-discussion-of-offensive-jokes/310248/24 "2005-07-01T10:40:19Z")
Jokes about Jesus = jokes about the tooth fairy Both fictional characters that some people think really exist. But if I knew someone who’d find it offensive it becomes 10, and if I know someone won’t find it offensive it becomes 0. Context is everything - I’ve told jokes about the most innocuos subjects only to find out that - for some reason - one of the listeners finds it painful. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-straight-to-hell-warning-discussion-of-offensive-jokes/310248/25 "2005-07-01T11:58:23Z")
First joke: funny, not offensive. Second joke: not funny, offensive. I do find this joke funny though (and not particularly offensive) but maybe you will. Two jews are about to be shot by firing squad. They’re blinfolded and told to prepare themselves. The first pipes up “Don’t I get a last request? I want my last request. We should get last requests. I want a last cigarette!” The second leans over and whispers out of the side of his mouth “Hush, don’t make trouble!”. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-straight-to-hell-warning-discussion-of-offensive-jokes/310248/26 "2005-07-01T12:00:55Z")
How? Just take out the word ;j , and put in any other description, and it becomes funnier. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-straight-to-hell-warning-discussion-of-offensive-jokes/310248/27 "2005-07-01T12:11:57Z")
> [@e-logic](#): > > Context is everything - I’ve told jokes about the most innocuos subjects only to find out that - for some reason - one of the listeners finds it painful. Susquehanna Hat Company?!? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-straight-to-hell-warning-discussion-of-offensive-jokes/310248/28 "2005-07-01T14:46:34Z")
Evangelical C’tian here & I’m more offended by those here who cast doubt on if JC even existed (not religiously offended, intellectually offended- might as well cast doubt on Julius Caesar’s existence- anyway that’s for GD, but Cec is on my side anyway) AS to Joke 1 (which I first heard in the movie THE CROW)- maybe a 2, I’ve told it myself & worse JC jokes Joke 2- 7/8, I find “how many of the same ethnicity can fit into a VW?” to be funnier anyway ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-straight-to-hell-warning-discussion-of-offensive-jokes/310248/29 "2005-07-01T15:26:38Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Quite possibly, one of the reasons for the big discrepancy is that joke #1 involves a mythological character, whereas joke #2 ties back to something that actually happened to real people. Oy, **Clothahump** doesn’t believe in Jesus. Who knew? :rolleyes: Both bad, but the second is worst; most people who’d tell the first presumably don’t think Jesus existed, or that the events in the Gospels aren’t factual. Granted I might as well tell jokes about Odin being nailed up, but it’s only garden-variety childishness. The other is just plain sick. ---
**Author:** ![milquetoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@milquetoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milquetoast)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-straight-to-hell-warning-discussion-of-offensive-jokes/310248/30 "2005-07-01T15:41:16Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Susquehanna Hat Company?!? Brilliant reference, **ShibbOleth**! That got more of a laugh out of many than any of the jokes referrred to in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-straight-to-hell-warning-discussion-of-offensive-jokes/310248/31 "2005-07-01T15:58:05Z")
> [@bluethree](#): > > Joke number 2 is something I thought was very funny when I was in junior high school. It’s not the Holocaust reference that was funny to me, it’s the image of a pizza screaming. That just makes me smile. > . I was thinking something along the same lines, but from the reverse point of view. I found the first joke non-offensive and the second one very offensive. Thinking about it, I think it’s related to the mental pictures it conjured. In the case of the second joke, contrarily to you, it conjured images of people (not pizzas) screaming. Which really isn’t funny. (while in the first case, it conjured an image iof Jesus, bringing a cross on his shoulder, patiently waiting at the front desk of a hotel, which is incongruous hence funny). I don’t think it’s (in my case) directly related to the joke refering to the holocaust. Though I’ve no example in mind at the moment, I’m pretty certain there are holocaust-related jokes that I found funny. The importance of the mental picture might be strongly different depending on the individual. From some interest I have in story-telling (not jokes, but fairy tales), I know that I strongly rely on mental pictures (like if I were watching a movie) when hearing a story and also know (because I asked people about this very issue after they’ve been told a tale) that others strongly rely on words (like if they were reading a book). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-straight-to-hell-warning-discussion-of-offensive-jokes/310248.md?page=1)