# (mildly) Dirty jokes in a professional context **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 18, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-dirty-jokes-in-a-professional-context/740780 "2015-12-18T16:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-dirty-jokes-in-a-professional-context/740780/21 "2015-12-21T01:53:15Z")
Only with people I have come to view as friends rather than co-workers, and then rarely. > [@China\_Guy](#): > > I made the decision when I first entered the corporate work force to not tell dirty jokes. And over the past few decades corporate HR has certainly tightened up about avoiding the perception of a hostile work environment. > > When I started my first corporate job, the woman I worked with made a BJ joke. I didn’t laugh. She apologized for making a risqué joke. I explained that actually I found her joke funny, but if we went down that path sooner or later I would probably say something in bantering innocence that she would find offensive, and maybe even deeply offensive. So, for me, it was better to not start down that path. > > Even now, some guys at work will make some kind of speculative comment on the sex life of female co-workers. I tend to say “let’s not go there.” Professional ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-dirty-jokes-in-a-professional-context/740780/22 "2015-12-21T02:01:15Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The cab driver is interpreting ‘scrod’ to mean some unusual tense of the verb ‘screw’. IOW, he thinks the guy is telling him he wants to get laid. I don’t think there’s any grammatical basis to ‘present pluperfect tense’, it’s just supposed to sound like there is. Variant: An Englishman traveling in America needs to buy some shirts. He summons a cab in front of his hotel, and instructs the driver, “Take me to the nearest haberdasher” The driver says, “Yes sir!” ||: After a time the Englishman asks, “Are we getting near a haberdashery?” :|| (the symbols mean repeat) The driver pulls over. ## "Look pal, I’m cool. You can level with me. _What are you after, booze or women?"_ I draw a distinction between: - A (mildly) off-color joke with no vulgar language (featuring clever wordplay that humbly pokes fun at the human condition); and - A barrage of obscenities. The former sometimes has its place with the right company. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-dirty-jokes-in-a-professional-context/740780/23 "2015-12-21T10:56:37Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The cab driver is interpreting ‘scrod’ to mean some unusual tense of the verb ‘screw’. IOW, he thinks the guy is telling him he wants to get laid. I don’t think there’s any grammatical basis to ‘present pluperfect tense’, it’s just supposed to sound like there is. On the basis of my 40 yr ago Latin, “Present Past Completed”, which is self-contradictory: either you are just completing it (present) or you have already completed it (past), it can’t be both at once. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-dirty-jokes-in-a-professional-context/740780/24 "2015-12-21T13:19:31Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > On the basis of my 40 yr ago Latin, “Present Past Completed”, which is self-contradictory: either you are just completing it (present) or you have already completed it (past), it can’t be both at once. That must be why people laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-dirty-jokes-in-a-professional-context/740780/25 "2015-12-21T17:06:34Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > On the basis of my 40 yr ago Latin, “Present Past Completed”, which is self-contradictory: either you are just completing it (present) or you have already completed it (past), it can’t be both at once. Yeah, “present perfect” I could live with, “present pluperfect” not so much. It was “pluperfect subjunctive” when I heard it before, which does make perfect grammatical sense even if you have to do some leg-work to imagine a sentence where you could use it. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-dirty-jokes-in-a-professional-context/740780/26 "2015-12-21T22:11:46Z")
> [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](#): > > Yeah, “present perfect” I could live with, “present pluperfect” not so much. It was “pluperfect subjunctive” when I heard it before, which does make perfect grammatical sense even if you have to do some leg-work to imagine a sentence where you could use it. Do you speak to your co-workers with that mouth?! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-dirty-jokes-in-a-professional-context/740780/27 "2015-12-21T22:29:06Z")
I stay away from off color humor at work mainly because I don’t want to give The Man a reason to take me down. But I work in a CNC/Machine shop, and not everyone shares my paranoia. Not hardcore or anything, but for example, one of the guys there has on his workbench (which is only “his” during his shift, other people use it on off shifts) a laminated paper sign that is lacking only a rimshot. I paraphrase: The police came to my house and showed me a picture of my wife. Sir, is this your wife? Yes, that’s my wife. Sir, it looks like she got hit by a bus. I know, but she’s good with the kids. He liked it so much he had it laminated. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-dirty-jokes-in-a-professional-context/740780/28 "2015-12-22T11:37:45Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Do you tell them? At what point do you feel comfortable enough to tell them? > > I have a colleague and a volunteer who tells me them sometimes. They are mild, but enough where you normally wouldn’t tell them in this kind of context: > > Why was the snowman happy? > He heard the snowblower was coming! > > Etc. > > He thinks I am rather strait-laced, which I kind of am in a professional workspace. But I wouldn’t get the jokes if I was completely strait-laced, and in my heart of hearts I am as filthy and low-brow as anyone. I would like to make a few jokes back and indicate I am not, but I am having a really hard time relaxing my work/home rule enough to do so. > > Thoughts? Do you tell these jokes? Do people tell them to you? How does it go over? Is this a guy or a girl? Next time they come in, with a very straight face pass them a (birth control) pill. Ask them to put it into the heel of their shoe. When they inevitably ask why… Let him know it’s to make him limp ---
**Author:** ![nachtmusick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@nachtmusick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nachtmusick)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-dirty-jokes-in-a-professional-context/740780/29 "2015-12-24T12:52:13Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Do you tell them? At what point do you feel comfortable enough to tell them? > > I have a colleague and a volunteer who tells me them sometimes. They are mild, but enough where you normally wouldn’t tell them in this kind of context: > > Why was the snowman happy? > He heard the snowblower was coming! > > Etc. > > He thinks I am rather strait-laced, which I kind of am in a professional workspace. But I wouldn’t get the jokes if I was completely strait-laced, and in my heart of hearts I am as filthy and low-brow as anyone. I would like to make a few jokes back and indicate I am not, but I am having a really hard time relaxing my work/home rule enough to do so. > > Thoughts? Do you tell these jokes? Do people tell them to you? How does it go over? Be who you are. Laugh at the jokes, but don’t feel like you have to match them. If you can’t be a good performer, than be a good audience. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-dirty-jokes-in-a-professional-context/740780.md?page=1)