In all seriousness

[Constance]

I guess it depends on the joke and who's telling it.

One of my dad's favorite gay jokes from the '80's was:

Q: What does AIDS do?
A: It turns fruits into vegetables.

My father is a raging homophobe, in addition to his other bigotries. He does not tell such jokes because he cares about homosexuals, even the ones in our extended family. The above is one of the kinder gay jokes he tells. I was in high school when my dad told me this joke, shortly after my first homosexual encounter. When I said I didn't think it was funny because a close friend of mine was gay and I really hoped he would never get AIDS, my dad's reply was, "Well, if he keeps his ASS out of trouble, he'll be fine." He stressed the word "ass" and laughed himself sick. Needless to say, I didn't come out to him. I probably should have, but I didn't fancy the idea of being homeless at 17.

By contrast, what follows is a gay joke I heard from a gay man.

Q: What's the difference between a gay waiter and a washing machine?
A: (with hands on hips, twisting back and forth, and using a sing-song voice) Abosolutely nothing!

I found this joke funny, but when I told it to another gay friend of mine, he nearly killed himself laughing. He really thought it was funny.

My wife, nearing ordination, loves the following joke about her denomination.

Q: How many Congregationalists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Change?

Of course, this joke was told by a Congregationalists pastor during a sermon.

So, I guess it depends who is telling the joke and who is hearing it. To some, such things are funny. To others, they are hateful and offensive.

[RebeccaFog]

Your father is certainly not funny.

I don't know if it's jokes so much as wit.

for instance, someone might say "I just had a thought!"

and I would say, "It must be precious to you because it's your first."


I would only say that to someone I feel comfortable with or fond of. Most people understand.

[Pica Pica]

ah, i actually found the fruit one funny and didn't get the washing machine one at all.
i don't agree with the triumphal sentiment behind the fruit one, but the simple play on words is quite an effective one...satisfying. Where the washing machine one, I'm just lost.

[Lokaeign]

Sorry, but that AIDS joke (in common with the vast majority of AIDS jokes) isn't funny.  It doesn't even make any sense.  If AIDS was a disease that "just" caused disability, you could  play on the heee-laaa-rious "disabled = vegetable" stereotype that ab folk find so diverting.  As it is, it's just... bleh.  I can see the waiter one being sort of funny if told between two gay men, but otherwise it would be pretty eggy.*



*Not edgy as in dangerous.  Eggy as in "*sniff sniff* I think this mayonnaise is a bit off."

[Pica Pica]

i didn't realise there was a whole genre of AIDs jokes, i think that was my first one. Hopefully my last also

[Constance]

Your father is certainly not funny.

I don't know if it's jokes so much as wit.

You have no idea. It really sucks to be the offspring of a bigot.


Posted on: August 11, 2008, 03:25:49 PM

ah, i actually found the fruit one funny and didn't get the washing machine one at all.
i don't agree with the triumphal sentiment behind the fruit one, but the simple play on words is quite an effective one...satisfying. Where the washing machine one, I'm just lost.

To be perfectly honest, I not too sure about the washing machine one. I know that a lot of machines use the back and forth side to side thing, but how is that like a gay waiter? I don't get it, but that one friend of mine just loved it.

Pica & Lokaeign, you're right: AIDS jokes are not funny at all. How my dad can tell such things, laugh at them and still insist he's Christian is beyond me. The love of Christ, not to mention good taste, just isn't there.

[Jaimey]

You have no idea. It really sucks to be the offspring of a bigot.

My father has a confederate flag tattooed on his arm.  yeck.  Well, to be fair, I don't think he's a racist anymore, but he still thinks gay people are going to hell and all that crap.  (Or well, last I heard he did...he was "born again", but apparently he doesn't go to church anymore)  One ex preacher at his church used the word "->-bleeped-<-got" one day when my mom went with him (a few years back...they're divorced, thankfully...she was pissed, by the way).  He doesn't tell offensive jokes, but his views irritate the hell out of me.

[Lokaeign]

My male parental unit is basically decent and well-intentioned, but has all kinds of weird ideas that he gets hung up on.  Like the idea that the n-word isn't really racist because it's merely a derivation of the Latin for black. 

And then when I told him I'd converted to heathenry, he made Nazi jokes.  Irony, thy name is dad.

[Lisbeth]

My male parental unit is basically decent and well-intentioned, but has all kinds of weird ideas that he gets hung up on.  Like the idea that the n-word isn't really racist because it's merely a derivation of the Latin for black. 

And then when I told him I'd converted to heathenry, he made Nazi jokes.  Irony, thy name is dad.

The word negro is Latin for "black."  I had a conversation with my father about this topic about 40 years ago.  But there is no way I would ever consider him to be racist.  African Americans have gone through several different preferences for being named during my life-time.  And each time they have picked one, prejudiced people came along and turned it into a racial slur.  It isn't the word that's important; it's how it's used.

[Lokaeign]

Yeah, I know that negro is Latin for black.  I'm talking about the other N-word.