Comments on: Funny Bones, 1951

By: queuno

queuno — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 05:55:37 +0000

fMhLisa considers all my contributions to be “s**t-flinging.”

They’re jealous of your street cred and how you and Julie M. Smith can tear them limb from limb…

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 15:44:58 +0000

I think about you, Researcher, and Bill MacKinnon whenever I type up a Scotch joke and hope that this isn’t going too far. The Scots are quite clearly very different from the Scotch.

By: Researcher

Researcher — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 15:13:22 +0000

I see they were still telling Scotch jokes in the 1950s.

So funny about the little old lady… “I never flirt while driving.” Ha.

And I second the vote to send Mark B. over to minister to the fMh crowd.

By: Maurine

Maurine — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:35:12 +0000

Just got back in town. I agree with others that this set of jokes is great. I can’t begin to choose which ones I liked best.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:05:03 +0000

You can play Elijah, Mark B.; I’m too frightened by the fMhladies to hold out a helping hand anymore. fMhLisa considers all my contributions to be “s**t-flinging.”

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 21:39:00 +0000

Nice collection, again. Of course, you really ought to send “A Wise Mother” over to fMh–their humor barrel is a little like the widow’s, and could use either Elijah or a refill.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:01:54 +0000

bruce, it seems to me from searching for these jokes that the process started in the early 1950s, when the joke pages became “wit and wisdom” pages — a few jokes like the ones in this post, outnumbered by quotations from classical or ecclesiastical sources. By the ’60s, the few jokes are very pale and seldom funny, and I’ll probably have to go through a full year’s issues to glean enough for a so-so post.

The Ensign published a humor page for a brief period in its earliest years — most probably don’t even remember that (even those of us old enough to remember) because the jokes were seldom funny. I think you nail the reason by referring to “the elimination of anything potentially offensive” — they relied on real-life Mormon experience, which of course can be very, very funny, but they either weren’t clever in the first place or else were over-written to make it abundantly clear that we weren’t making fun of anything or anyone, even ourselves. Pity. We’re the funniest people I know!

By: bfwebster

bfwebster — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:35:21 +0000

The “Funny Bones” posts, more than just about anything, remind me of one downside of Correlation — the elimination of anything potentially offensive, questionable or risque, which is, of course, what humor depends upon. These are great, Ardis. As a father of nine, I especially like the Oliver Wendell Holmes one. ..bruce..

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:25:01 +0000

Awww, I can always count on Ray to make me laugh at what makes him laugh!

By: Ray

Ray — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 13:56:25 +0000

Oh, Ardis, this is my favorite list yet – and the final note is an awesome way to end it. I won’t even try to highlight my favorites, since that would require I cut and paste almost the entire post.