The sense of humour

[Costi]

Whereas the crocodile

[Costi]

The real funny thing is that the answer came out on a new page, as it should with any puzzle

[pvpatty]

Whereas the crocodile

At the risk of sounding like a simpleton, I don't get it.

[storeynicholas]

Whereas the crocodile

At the risk of sounding like a simpleton, I don't get it.

pvp - Now that you've said it, I'll come aboard - sorry Costi - we know that a joke explained is a joke spoiled but....
NJS

[pvpatty]

Whereas the crocodile

At the risk of sounding like a simpleton, I don't get it.

pvp - Now that you've said it, I'll come aboard - sorry Costi - we know that a joke explained is a joke spoiled but....
NJS

Perhaps it's some particular Romanian sort of humour?

[storeynicholas]

At the risk of sounding like a simpleton, I don't get it.

pvp - Now that you've said it, I'll come aboard - sorry Costi - we know that a joke explained is a joke spoiled but....
NJS

Perhaps it's some particular Romanian sort of humour?

I got the other one about the donkey's ears and the hare. I tried to make a joke in Portuguese a few weeks ago and it fell horribly flat and so I then tried to explain it in Portuguese and ended up wanting to disappear into a hole in the earth - you know that feeling? It ended with some polite smiles and consoling remarks that my Portuguese really isn't as bad a s all that.
NJS

[couch]

My French is execrable, but I wanted to put in a word for the other sort of French humo(u)r, the venerable and acid tradition of Gallic wit. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries particularly, it may have been the French who taught the English the art of "cutting" both verbally and by means of the countenance. I'm reminded of Patrice Leconte's excellent film "Ridicule." And of course, the satire of Voltaire . . . .

[Costi]

Gents, this does make a point about the sense of humour I admit it is not a "ha-ha" type of joke, at most it makes you smile.
Usually an illogical question does not trigger an answer (because there is none, logically), but a request for clarification: "The difference between a crocodile and WHAT?" will be the logical reply.
The logically correct answer, in turn, would be: "The elephant (for instance) is grey, whereas the crocodile is green". Instead, the reply in the joke follows the illogical character of the question (the lack of an element of comparison), therefore accepts an illogical convention (which is the source of humour, if any) and gives half an answer, which makes as little sense as the limping question: "Whereas the crocodile...".

Another similar one, this time with reversed logic:
A man and a swivel-eyed woman accidentally bump into each other on a sidewalk. "Why don't look where you're going?" asks the woman annoyed.
"But why don't YOU go where you're looking, madam?!" replies the man.

Finally, because all good (?) things are three, a joke where everything is perfectly logical:
A one-eyed beggar sees his lame colleague of misery hobbling on a busy street leaning on his crutch. "How is it going?" he asks wittily.
"As you can see!" comes the reply.

[Azdak]

I have a fondness for jokes that only work in a particular dialect. My favourite:

Q: What's the difference between Bing Crosby and Walt Disney?

A: Bing sings and Walt disnae.

[RWS]

I have a fondness for jokes that only work in a particular dialect. My favourite:

Q: What's the difference between Bing Crosby and Walt Disney?

A: Bing sings and Walt disnae.

Now that, I understand! And I didn't need a Scottish great-grandmother to do so.

[storeynicholas]

A novice goes to a tailor that has been recommended to him and is measured and chooses a cloth and is told that he will be called when to attend for a first fitting. He eventually receives a call to go for the fitting. After he has put the suit on he discovers that one sleeve is hanging to the ends of his hand but the other sleeve end finishes near the mid-arm. The customer points all this out politely and also raises the matter of one trouser leg being considerably shorter than the other. The tailor has the solutions: he tells the customer to push his right arm right out so that it protrudes from the longer arm and to pull the other arm back so that it is covered by the other sleeve. As to the short trouser leg, the tailor takes the customer outside and explains that if he goes along, one foot on the road and one on the pavement, the solution is found. The customer, being a novice, accepts all this good advice and leaves the tailor to bring the suit to a second fitting. At the second fitting the same problems are identified but they are solved exactly as before and the customer goes off to leave the tailor to finish the suit. At the final fitting, the tailor goes through all that the customer has to do to feel at ease in his suit and opens the door for the customer to leave. The customer carefully goes along the road, one foot on the pavement and one foot in the road, remembering to keep one arm pulled up and the other one pushed right dovvn.

Two chaps happen to be walking along the road opposite the customer and one says to the other:

"Look at that poor chap over there"
The other replies "By Jove, yes - but you have to admire his tailor!".
NJS

[NHR]

From what I have read and seen elsewhere on LL that is, perhaps, not always so far from the truth.

[storeynicholas]

From what I have read and seen elsewhere on LL that is, perhaps, not always so far from the truth.

Ha! ha! It is an old joke but, as you say, many a true word may be spoken in jest.
NJS