# Think I finally understand Humour-Challenged people! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 5, 2014, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388 "2014-12-05T07:46:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/21 "2014-12-07T04:42:52Z")
Sometimes I crack myself up but don’t crack anybody else up. Examples. Me: Argh! My husband’s mother-in-law is visiting and she is driving me nuts! Coworker (bemused): Your…husband’s mother-in-law? Isn’t that…your mother? Me: Haha. Yes! Coworker shakes head and walks off. Me: Oh no it’s cloudy. That means my solar clothes dryer won’t work so well. Coworker: Wow, you have a solar-powered clothes dryer? Me: Yes. Otherwise known as a clothesline. Coworker shakes head and walks off. Coworker and I walk out of a meeting where there are cookies. I have a cookie but it’s not a very good cookie and I’m done with it. I stub it out in an ashtray by the elevator. (Note: smoking no longer allowed in building but for some reason there are still ashtrays by the elevator. ) We get on the elevator and I realize what I just did, i.e., I just put my cookie out in the ashtray, so I laugh. Coworker asks what’s funny. I tell her. She doesn’t get it until two hours later and comes to tell me it was pretty funny once she got it. The joke being that of course you don’t have to stub a cookie out in an ashtray, you can just toss it in the ashtray, but since it was an ashtray I went ahead and ground it in, out of habit…ah, the hell with it. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/22 "2014-12-07T05:14:36Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > :o I’m ashamed to say I tried to tell the interrupting cow knock knock joke the other day and in the middle of it, forgot how a knock knock joke works. :smack: omg, I can’t stop laughing. I’m imagining you standing there sheepishly saying “moo” when it’s entirely too late to be moo-ing. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Apollon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@Apollon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollon)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/23 "2014-12-07T14:49:55Z")
I’m one of those people! Sarcasm I do get, but I don’t find it funny. I force myself to give a polite “heh heh”, just to avoid seeming stupid. What I don’t get at all is irony. I just can’t detect it, and the whole concept baffles and annoys me. It goes so far that I distrust people who use irony a lot, because they seem dishonest to me. ---
**Author:** ![Apollon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@Apollon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollon)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/24 "2014-12-07T15:00:04Z")
Ghetto edit: In my case, it’s not even a cultural thing. Irony and sarcasm are something like a national pastime in my country. I can sympathise with our German neighbours who see my countrymen as two-faced. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/25 "2014-12-08T03:26:38Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > omg, I can’t stop laughing. I’m imagining you standing there sheepishly saying “moo” when it’s entirely too late to be moo-ing. 😃 Well, no, I…yes, that’s exactly what happened. :smack: Luckily it was funnier in the mistelling than it would have been otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/26 "2014-12-08T04:29:12Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Sometimes I crack myself up but don’t crack anybody else up. > > Examples. > > Me: Argh! My husband’s mother-in-law is visiting and she is driving me nuts! > Coworker (bemused): Your…husband’s mother-in-law? Isn’t that…your mother? > Me: Haha. Yes! > Coworker shakes head and walks off. > > Me: Oh no it’s cloudy. That means my solar clothes dryer won’t work so well. > Coworker: Wow, you have a solar-powered clothes dryer? > Me: Yes. Otherwise known as a clothesline. > Coworker shakes head and walks off. I’ve worked in many places where the first one would have gotten a response along the lines of “you know, I’m not even married and sometimes I can’t stand my wife’s mother-in-law either” and the second one would have been understood straightaway. After a conversation in which a certain coworker took it for granted that everybody would have a dryer (note that this was in a place with average yearly temps in the high 20 Cs/80 Fs, and about 20 rainy days per year), another one’s reply of “mine is fusion-powered” led to the team talking about how “the fusion dryer isn’t working very well today” to indicate “it’s cloudy”. There was a Spanish standup comedian who would turn his microphone around whenever a deadpanned joke led to expectant silence. After one too many times of falling for my father’s deadpan style, Mom asked him to “turn the mike”; sometimes when he said something outrageous in a completely deadpan way she’d ask “did you turn the microphone around?”, others he’d do it straightaway. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/27 "2014-12-08T13:52:13Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The docs deal with a lot of folks that are already borderline itrrational whether due to dementia, medication, or illicit drugs. Or plain old garden variety stupidity exacerbated by stress & lack of sleep. > > He read you as one of the above and continued his \*pro forma \*spiel fully expecting that 0% of it would stick with you. All he really wanted out of the encounter was your sig on the “informed” consent form. In this case I suspect it was completely a cultural/individual thing. The nurse, whom I had been cutting up with previously, indicated that Dr. Sleepmiester had virtually no sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/28 "2014-12-08T14:14:29Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > There are humor impaired people, including people with social disorders, but the following factors are much more likely IME (I’ve been on both sides of a lot of these): > > 1. They don’t get your cultural references or inside jokes. They travel in different social circles. Know your audience. > > 2. They’re tired or busy and not in a “fun” mood and just want to get the job done and go home. You’re like the over the top morning person who makes everyone grind their teeth. > > 3. Sarcasm isn’t humor to many people, more the province of smug teenagers. They want you to grow up. > > 4. They get your jokes, they don’t need it explained – they just think it’s stupid and not funny. This creates social awkwardness. A lot of people don’t feel the need to offer a polite laugh, since it may invite more bad jokes. Nailed it. You think you’re saying “I’m being funny!” To me it sounds like “Please look at me.” I’m the type to laugh politely, but in my office, that validation will result in 30 more minutes of riffing. So I sit there wearing the psychological equivalent of a sniper ghillie suit so as to appear completely inattentive and humorless (giant headphones, flatscreen angled just so, stone-dead face with stone-dead eyes). ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/29 "2014-12-08T14:19:53Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > I was at the hospital for my pre-op appointment prior to my hip replacement surgery. I was bored and the next Dr in was to be the anesthesiologist. I decided to have some fun. The conversation went like this: > DR: Hi, I’m Dr X. I will be your anesthesiologist > Me: Hi Doc. You’re not going to put me to sleep are you? > DR: As opposed to what? > Me: Just a local. I can handle it. > DR: Oh, no, this is major surgery. We will be putting you to sleep. > Me: But you don’t understand, Doc - “they” come for me when I sleep. > DR: (No change of expression) I’m afraid I don’t understand. > Me: Heh, just joking with you > Dr: (No change of expression) We’ll be using Propofol for sedation… What would have REALLY been funny would be if he took your statement at face value and started opening up your chest without painkillers. And then you’d have said “I’m joking!” And he could have said “Me too! It’s a real rib-splitter! I just love a patient with a good sense of humor.” ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/30 "2014-12-08T14:21:47Z")
As numerous as humour impaired persons may be, this thread makes me believe those numbers are fully equalled by those who are NOT funny but believe themselves to be an absolute laugh riot. (Sometimes it’s not that your audience is humour impaired. Often you’re not so funny as you think. To laugh at your lame jokes will only encourage you. Hence straight faces all around.) It’s not that we don’t get it, it’s that we don’t find it funny. Don’t quit your day jobs! ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/31 "2014-12-08T19:14:43Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > There are humor impaired people, including people with social disorders, but the following factors are much more likely IME (I’ve been on both sides of a lot of these): > > 1. They don’t get your cultural references or inside jokes. They travel in different social circles. Know your audience. > > 2. They’re tired or busy and not in a “fun” mood and just want to get the job done and go home. You’re like the over the top morning person who makes everyone grind their teeth. > > 3. Sarcasm isn’t humor to many people, more the province of smug teenagers. They want you to grow up. > > 4. They get your jokes, they don’t need it explained – they just think it’s stupid and not funny. This creates social awkwardness. A lot of people don’t feel the need to offer a polite laugh, since it may invite more bad jokes. I would add, in many situations, especially with strangers, the context of “joking” has to be established, and you as a “funny person” has to be established. This is most true with sarcasm and dry humor or irony. A funny statement made with a chuckle helps set the tone that humor is happening. Then you can work up to the more complex stuff. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/32 "2014-12-08T20:10:10Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > I would add, in many situations, especially with strangers, the context of “joking” has to be established, and you as a “funny person” has to be established. This is most true with sarcasm and dry humor or irony. A funny statement made with a chuckle helps set the tone that humor is happening. Then you can work up to the more complex stuff. There’s nothing more embarrassing than laughing at someone’s deadpan humor when they are being 100% serious. I could see a doctor intentionally turning their humor detector off just to prevent this from happening. Recently I was warning someone about my facial tics, and he busted out laughing. I’m assuming he thought I was being funny (Tourette’s is frequently the butt of jokes). But I didn’t correct him because awkward. I know it will come up again, so I know he’ll eventually realize I was being serious. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/33 "2014-12-09T00:03:05Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > I would add, in many situations, especially with strangers, the context of “joking” has to be established, and you as a “funny person” has to be established. This is most true with sarcasm and dry humor or irony. A funny statement made with a chuckle helps set the tone that humor is happening. Then you can work up to the more complex stuff. That’s exactly what I do - I float a trial balloon, as it were, to see if these people are on my wavelength, and if not, I won’t bust out my driest, most sarcastic wit. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/34 "2014-12-22T02:04:36Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Sometimes I crack myself up but don’t crack anybody else up. I thought those stories were funny. It took me a while to get used to an in-law’s deadpan humor. I still roll my eyes at him a lot. ---
**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 22, 2014, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/35 "2014-12-22T11:01:49Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > :o I’m ashamed to say I tried to tell the interrupting cow knock knock joke the other day and in the middle of it, forgot how a knock knock joke works. :smack: > [@Green\_Bean](#): > > omg, I can’t stop laughing. I’m imagining you standing there sheepishly saying “moo” when it’s entirely too late to be moo-ing. 😃 > [@gigi](#): > > Well, no, I…yes, that’s exactly what happened. :smack: Luckily it was funnier in the mistelling than it would have been otherwise. In future, you should just stick with the “_procrastinating_ interrupting cow” knock-knock joke. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/36 "2014-12-22T14:04:27Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Long story short, I’ve had a running joke about the death of my stuffed rooster (Ray) at work. We communicate with each other via a CHAT function. :dubious: That’s one hell of an ISP you’ve got there, buddy. I was working at Target doing remote admin on store computers. One needed to be rebooted, so I called the store. Me: Hi, this is [me] from Headquarters. Team Relations Leader: Headquarters? What is it? Me: It’s a big building with a lot of computers, but that’s not important right now. TRL: … Me: … TRL: So, what did you need? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388/37 "2014-12-23T12:38:03Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Sometimes I crack myself up but don’t crack anybody else up. > > Examples. > > Me: Argh! My husband’s mother-in-law is visiting and she is driving me nuts! > Coworker (bemused): Your…husband’s mother-in-law? Isn’t that…your mother? > Me: Haha. Yes! > Coworker shakes head and walks off. > > Me: Oh no it’s cloudy. That means my solar clothes dryer won’t work so well. > Coworker: Wow, you have a solar-powered clothes dryer? > Me: Yes. Otherwise known as a clothesline. > Coworker shakes head and walks off. > > Coworker and I walk out of a meeting where there are cookies. I have a cookie but it’s not a very good cookie and I’m done with it. I stub it out in an ashtray by the elevator. (Note: smoking no longer allowed in building but for some reason there are still ashtrays by the elevator. ) > We get on the elevator and I realize what I just did, i.e., I just put my cookie out in the ashtray, so I laugh. Coworker asks what’s funny. I tell her. > She doesn’t get it until two hours later and comes to tell me it was pretty funny once she got it. The joke being that of course you don’t have to stub a cookie out in an ashtray, you can just toss it in the ashtray, but since it was an ashtray I went ahead and ground it in, out of habit…ah, the hell with it. I love you. > [@Icarus](#): > > I would add, in many situations, especially with strangers, the context of “joking” has to be established, and you as a “funny person” has to be established. This is most true with sarcasm and dry humor or irony. A funny statement made with a chuckle helps set the tone that humor is happening. Then you can work up to the more complex stuff. My dad had a very deadpan sense of humor. He would say things completely straight-faced, and I would crack up because _funny_. My sister, less than two years younger than me, would take him completely seriously. We had the same context, but she … just didn’t get it. > [@Ethilrist](#): > > I was working at Target doing remote admin on store computers. One needed to be rebooted, so I called the store. > > Me: Hi, this is [me] from Headquarters. > Team Relations Leader: Headquarters? What is it? > Me: It’s a big building with a lot of computers, but that’s not important right now. > TRL: … > Me: … > TRL: So, what did you need? I would have gotten it. But then, I was clearly the oldest person in the theater the day I watched _Scary Movie 3_ (I think it was 3). I was, literally, the only person in the theater who laughed out loud when Leslie Nielson stuck his head into the barn and told the two main characters, “I just wanted to let you both know that we’re all counting on you.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-finally-understand-humour-challenged-people/706388.md?page=1)