Knock, Knock

If you know me well, you know that I love jokes and cherry coke. If you hardly know me at all, but have somehow still managed to avoid my periodic "defriending sprees" on Facebook, you have probably seen me post a status that says something like "if you bring me a cherry coke, I will tell you the answer to this joke: [insert hilarious joke here]." First of all, shout out to my good friend Emily Shook who once actually brought me a cherry coke after reading my status (I'm sure she would say the joke was well worth her time and flex dollars). Second of all, if you bear with me as I step onto my soapbox for a moment, I promise I will reward you with some of my best jokes at the end of this post.

In most aspects of life, as we grow older and more educated, we also become more mature. However, it seems like the humor that we use and enjoy often displays just the opposite. When we are very young, we think that knock knock jokes and other innocent jokes like "what did the buffalo say to his son when he dropped him off at college?" [answer: bison] are hilarious. Then we gain a few years, and become less mature when we begin to love poop jokes. Finally, before we know it, we are full blown adults allowed to watch R rated comedies that are often (but not always; there are some quality movies out there) nothing but a constant stream of inappropriate and sometimes downright offensive jokes. Many people argue that it's okay for adults to hear and make these jokes because "we can handle them". What? What does that mean? Due to the fact that I have the cognitive capacity to understand that the joke is disgusting, it's okay for me to laugh at it? And then because my friends are smart enough to know that I'm "just joking" it's okay for me to repeat it to them later? Something doesn't add up here.

Disclaimer: I am not pretending to be all high and mighty. I'm not saying that I don't laugh at inappropriate jokes. However, more and more I am beginning to question WHY I laugh at them, and why other people my age and older do as well. In about a year and half I will hopefully have my own middle school classroom. My job will be to not only teach them how to improve their reading and writing skills, but also to help them through the intense maturing process that they are experiencing at that age. Every year kids are exposed to more and more inappropriate messages disguised as humor through the media that are ultimately making it harder for me to do my future job. So, I figured that the least I can do is make sure that I am not a hypocrite when I teach kids that some jokes are simply not funny.

Alright, I'm off my soapbox now. As promised, here are some of my favorite appropriate, and still hilarious jokes:

What do snowmen eat for breakfast? Frosted flakes.

What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta.

Why did the golfer wear two pairs of pants? In case he got a hole in one.

What did the vegetables say at the party? Lettuce turnip the beets.

What kind of hen lays the most? Dead ones. (This joke may not be appropriate for children under the age of 4 if they have not yet learned about the circle of life).

Peace.