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!