WhatsofunnyDESPITE THE COST OF LIVING, HAVE YOU NOTICED HOW POPULAR IT REMAINS?
What’s so funny about this? Here’s another case where we have a single word, “living,” in contradiction to a phrase containing that word, namely, “the cost of living.” Let’s look at the phrase first. It’s a very common expression, one we hear every day on TV, on radio, in the newspapers. It refers to how much money it costs to buy the necessities to carry on with the daily routines of our lives. We have to buy food, clothing, shelter, transportation, etc. Everything costs money; practically nothing is free except the air and emotions. It’s these free emotions, such as love, hate, fear, greed, envy, joy, etc, that can “play havoc” or mess with, our lives. These emotions are free because they come from within ourselves. It’s how we react to the realities of our lives and the people we live with. One very common reaction to the cost-of-living is anger, especially when the necessities of life, begin to cost more than the money we have. A necessity is just that, something we cannot live without. or something we think we cannot live without. Yet if certain items are too expensive, then we have to priotize; we have to create an order of importance of these necessities. What do we absolutely have to have and what can we do without. Everyone’s list of priorities, will, of course, be different. And we haven’t even touched on, or mentioned luxuries, those items we love but which may not be essential for us to maintain our lives. Chocolate might be one example. Just about everybody, rich and poor, complains about the cost-of-living being too high. That’s because everything is relative. One person’s necessity is another’s luxury.
So what’s the contradiction? The way the joke is worded, it reminds us that ultimately living, life will always be more popular than the alternative, death. The question asks, “Have you noticed how popular IT remains?” The antecedent of the pronoun “it” could be either LIVING or the COST OF LIVING. And it’s pretty obvious that people will choose the former over the latter.
And THAT’s what’s so funny!
WhatsofunnyTIE ONE ON
A guy walks into a fancy bar wearing a shirt open at the collar. He’s met by a bouncer who tells him he needs to wear a necktie to be allowed in. So the guy goes out to his car and looks around for a necktie. He discovers that he doesn't have one but he sees a set of jumper cables in his trunk. In desperation he ties them around his neck, manages to make a decent-looking knot and lets the ends dangle free. He goes back to the bar and the bouncer carefully looks him over and then says, "Well, OK, I guess you can come in -- just don't start anything."
What’s so funny about this? I don’t usually do jokes of this length. I prefer what they call “one-liners” which deliver the punch line, or the actual joke, right away, without a big set-up. But occasionally the set-up is half the fun, and that’s the case with this joke. It starts out perfectly normally. “A guy walks into a bar…” Right away we learn it’s not a regular bar but a fancy one, that requires male patrons (a fancy name for customers) to wear neckties. Our guy has a shirt with an open collar so that tells us he’s not wearing a tie. Furthermore, the bar has a bouncer, someone responsible for making sure that patrons are well-behaved and that no undesirables can enter. Since our guy has no tie, he’s undesirable. He must really want to have a drink at this bar though, because he goes to his car in search of a necktie, rather than just going somewhere else. Needless to say, he doesn’t find a tie, but he does find a pair of jumper cables. These are two thick black wires about four feet in length, with color coded clips on both ends to connect two car batteries, if one of them is dead and needs to be re-started. He ties the cables around his neck and tries to get back into the bar. When the bouncer sees what the guy had done, it’s obvious how desperate the guy must is. So the bouncer gives him permission to enter on the condition that the guy not “start anything”. To “start something” is also a euphemism for starting a fight, which the bouncer, of course wants to avoid. However, jumper cables are designed to start things, so the bouncer is worried that the guy might try to hook-up with someone and start something with them. The guy on the other hand, I’m sure would like to make some sparks fly.
And THAT’s what’s so funny!