A (not very) funny thing happened on the way to John Adam Street...
31 January 2008
Are jokes pro-social acts? I guess it depends on their content and the context of their telling. It is as hard to make up jokes as design pro-social experiments. Although I love hearing and telling jokes I have only ever made up three, and one of those was this morning. Here they are:
‘Why do rabbits care about the Government’s finances?
Because they are worried about the size of the public sector burrowing requirement’
(This joke is losing its already limited appeal as HMG long since stopped using PSBR as a measure.)
Man: Doctor, doctor I am invisible until I eat my lunch
Doctor: I’m sorry, I can’t see you until this afternoon’
And this morning’s joke:
‘I have made friends with an amoeba who is into boxing and martial arts. I am trying to get him to buy my car.
It’s proving to be a hard cell’.
I know these aren’t very good but they are mine. I am intrigued as to how many other people can claim to have actually invented (rather than just rediscovered or retold) a joke.
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Rebecca Daddow - 05 Jun 2008 1:48pm
Two sheep in a field... One goes 'Baaaaaaaaaaa' The other turns round and says 'thats funny, I was just about to say that!' I apologise...
Anshuman - 05 Jun 2008 1:48pm
An Englishman, and Irishman and a Scot are going to... Maybe I shouldn't finish this one. But we've heard the other two jokes before Matthew, not the rabbit one. New material please.
James - 05 Jun 2008 1:47pm
Stop please. Jokes aren't funny - this is an irrefutable truth, if you have any doubt read the jokes again. Matthew is quite funny when he isn't joking and perhaps so are some of these other people. Inventing these things is like saying you have invented a new kind of foul smell from your orifices - it may be true, but what virtue is there in this?
Tessy - 05 Jun 2008 1:47pm
Exactly a week later. Brilliant!
Stuart B - 05 Jun 2008 1:47pm
I love the double decker bus calculator. Thanks for the link.
Laura Billings - 05 Jun 2008 1:45pm
It felt particularly worthwhile for me to see that some of the Fellows I had spent time finding and inviting to join the Fellowship, came along and got involved in a practical project. Very inspiring stuff.
Rowland Manthorpe - 05 Jun 2008 1:43pm
Who is your most hated member of the commentariat then Matthew? There's such a choice: Hari, Monbiot, mad Maddy Bunting...