Your mother went up on the roof…
http://www.squackle.com/jokes/hottinroof.shtml
Well, it obviously had a risk: the OP reacted badly. Jokes that rely on the embarassment of the jokee are risky, and that should be borne in mind.
Next time just pretend to be really over-the-top outraged by it. Yell, scream, throw your hands in the air. When they start to panic stop, smile, and say “Just Kidding!”.
I agree, it’s not funny; it may even be proof of a low IQ.
Except…that it wasn’t.
Yeah, just like there’s a risk involved when offering someone you don’t know a beer. He may be some teetotaler whose abusive, alcoholic step-dad turned the idea of all booze into something scary and offensive. Then you could say “Well obviously there was risk involved when offering, because the person reacted poorly. Don’t offer beers to people you hardly know.” I don’t think it would be unreasonable to assume that there is little risk in either scenario.
But apparently there is! There are people for whom social interactions are a “serious affair,” so you have to work off the assumption that you’re dealing with crippling anxiety issues, and treat everyone you meet with the most delicate of kitten mittens until it has been firmly established that there is no possible room to offend.
But the punchline is not someone’s elses embarrassment, but rather that someone fell for a harmless mistruth.
The crux here is that most people would not be horribly embarrassed by the situation described in the OP. It’s not as if he was made to believe he was walking around naked or that he’d killed a baby. Feeling a “gut-wrenching sense of embarrassment” over this joke is something that the OP needs to accept as his own issue and take responsibility for it instead of being mad at the party host. Because really it isn’t that serious. Even if he didn’t find it all that funny, it should have rolled off his back and been completely forgotten within 20 minutes.
QFT. I’m starting to think many dopers live in a totally different world from me.
You and me both.
He massively overreacted. Worst-case, this should have been nothing but a cue for him to think, “Okay, I’m not ever coming here again, 'cause these people are lame.” Instead, the thought that he *might *have shown up on the wrong night to a party ruined his whole evening. That is not a normal, healthy reaction.
Ec-fucking-zactly.
Oh dear, they do. They almost certainly do. There’s a whole thread about it somewhere. Something like “Shit that does not happen and/or is extremely bizarre in real life, but on the SDMB, is totally normal and cool.” The “Party’s tomorrow” joke is silly, but not at all strange, but here, it’s something that causes severe emotional distress.
Have a beer. Don’t worry about it, and don’t try to figure it out.
Directed at jjimm, btw.
Thanks. I took your advice and cracked open a beer.
Ha ha! Fooled you! I didn’t.*
I guess you can’t please all of the people all of the time. I met a guy when I was travelling in China. He seemed a bit socially inept, but chatted away reasonably well until anyone asked him where he was from. At that point he would get this rabbit-in-the-headlights look and start going “N… N… N…” for some considerable time, until he would finally blurt out “newyork” and look a bit upset. I began to avoid him.
*I did really.
I am not socially adept enough to handle this kind of chain-yanking. I will now be uncomfortable for the remainder of the evening, and am probably never going to speak to you again.
Thank fuck for that.
So, would it be fair to say that those of you who have no problem with jokes like those in the OP are the kind of people who pull this kind of joke yourself? You guys seem to be taking it kind of personally too.
I wouldn’t but if someone pulled it on me, I’d get over it, like, immediately.
Yeah, what’s up with the nastiness from many of the pro-“joke” people?
Interesting too that the same people who are accusing me of overreacting are themselves wildly over-exaggerating my reaction to the “jokes”. “Hiding in the corner hugging my knees and rocking back and forth”? “Sulking”? Pu-lease. I simply left the party earlier than I intended because I was not enjoying the evening.:rolleyes:
I thought that was largely meant to be humorous. She was exaggerating, you see, and… never mind.
I was going to bring that up too …
Nope. It’s not *good *humor, but it’s still humor.
You think we’re being nasty because we’re suggesting that you have some sort of social anxiety disorder? Speaking personally, I’m just being honest. If you told me that you hate architects because you can’t climb stairs because your joints hurt too much, and I suggested that you might just have arthritis, would you think I’m being nasty then, too?
“Nevermind” is pretty much the only response to several of the posts here.
So you think that every single one of the people who agreed that this type of “joke” is not funny at all are mentally ill? All of them? Really?
No, I think several people who say “It’s just a joke” have commented that the joke is not funny. But offensive? Causing distress? Gut-wrenching distress, at that? Come on. If feeling like you’ve arrived to a party on the wrong date for something like 10 seconds causes you so much distress that it sours your evening and opinion of the host altogether, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask about the severe social anxiety issues you seem to have.