Every Once In A While Blog

I have made a truly remarkable discovery. I have discovered what makes a joke a lame joke. I have long tried to understand - what is it that makes a lame joke…lame?

    First we should note that a lame joke is not analogous to such types of jokes as say, ‘knock knock jokes’ or ‘dirty jokes’ for ‘knock knock jokes’ and ‘dirty jokes’ may or may not be lame. In other words, ‘lame’ is not a category or type of joke in that sense. If not, then what is it?

    A lame joke is more likely an assigned quality to a joke by a listener rather than it being intentionally lame by the joker. Put another way, a joke requires another person’s independent judgment of it for the joke to be lame.

    This then, is my discovery; I have found, through keen observation:
    Jokes become lame when nobody reciprocates

    Even as I look at my own life in recent years, I’ve noticed that most jokes I (try to) make are not purposefully lame, but I end up being accused of being lame anyway. Why is that so? In almost every instance I recall, my jokes, its punchline and the desired effects were cut short because someone perceived that I was being lame. If a joke was non-lame and delivered correctly, then I reckon that it would have elicited some positive response and thereafter naturally progress to a healthy going-back-and-forth of witty banter.

    A joke only becomes lame when nobody reciprocates. Yes, people may laugh at the joke but to reciprocate would be, for example, to respond with another joke.

    I don’t know if you understand what I’m trying to say, but in all probability…you would have just dismissed this post as…lame.  

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 12:06 pm and is filed under Thots. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.