In case you were unsure, when someone tells a really bad joke in public (such as the "write off" jape in my post below about the lost pen), there are three polite ways to respond:
1) Laugh politely or, indeed, with gusto.
2) Groan, and comment on how bad the joke was. This shows that you acknowledge the joke, and believe it worthy of recognition, if nothing else.
3) Ignore the joke. This has the disadvantage that the person may feel the need to tell it again, just to make sure you heard it. (By the way, I still haven't found my pen...)
Although you may be tempted to do so, it is not considered polite to threaten the teller with death should he dare to tell the joke again. As, indeed, Graeme saw fit to do over my wondering "squirrel ballet" jest of the weekend before last.
Fortunately, I laugh in the face of danger, and tweak the nipples of terror. Therefore, let me enlighten you to the punchline of my quip: "It was the Nutcracker Suite". The rest is context; you really had to be there.
2 comments:
I do wonder about cultural differences in responding to an unfunny joke. My response is the 'polite laugh' while cringing inside, because I really hate the idea of hurting someone's feelings and traditional joke-telling seems quite a brave thing to do. (I actually really hate being told jokes and the words "Let me tell you a joke" fill me with horror. It was very common at my high school to tell someone a joke which made no sense at all to see if they would laugh anyway. Grrr.)
In New Zealand, my friend got a job in a hostel replacing an Australian girl, who was apparently leaving because she refused to laugh at the owner's lame jokes and it caused problems in their working relationship. I couldn't understand why she wouldn't laugh - a polite laugh is much less awkward than ignoring the joke.
Of course, in an ideal world people would either tell extremely funny jokes or none at all :)
Indeed, one should never say, "let me tell you a joke". Better, instead, just to tell the joke. Especially if you can do so in a totally deadpan voice and with a totally straight face, so people aren't quite sure if you're really joking or not.
My personal favourites, though, are "slow burn" jokes - jokes that initially pass unnoticed until the audience thinks about them just a little more... and then they get them. However, there is so rarely the opportunity to use such jokes, as they require a very quick wit to assemble just-so.
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