WhatsofunnyAnd here's Billie Holiday singing a song with the same theme, God Bless the Child - note the lyrics under the video
http://youtu.be/Z_1LfT1MvzI
WhatsofunnyHere;s Bessie Smith singing the original
http://youtu.be/6MzU8xM99Uo
Whatsofunny“MOM, DAD, SIS – I’M NOT REALLY LIKE YOU. I’M – I’M NOT A PALINDROME”
What’s so funny about this? To really get this joke you need to remember the meaning of the word “palindrome” which is a word or phrase that is spelled the same in both directions, from right to left or left to right. Sometimes they are long and very clever, going on for an entire sentence. But in this case instead of one long palindrome, we have three short ones, four if you count the title. And the fun part is that they are so obvious and common, used every day. Let’s take a closer look at why else this may be funny. In the actual cartoon of which this joke is the caption, there are four people sitting around a dining table and the boy making his announcement to the rest of his family. An illustration is not really necessary to make this joke. It’s pretty obvious that it’s an announcement. It could be in a car, a living room, at the beach, anywhere. The boy is a young teenager. In typical fashion he is making an announcement to the rest of his family, from whom he feels different. He’s finally going to share his feelings with his mother, father and sister. What could it be? The most obvious difference might be that he is gay – that could certainly be cause for an announcement. But maybe he wants to tell them that he was kicked out of school for cheating, so he’s confessing to being a sociopath. Worse, they might be Democrats and he’s going to reveal that he’s a Republican. Well, it turns out to be a huge difference. He tells them he’s not a palindrome, that is, he is not called by a name that’s spelled the same in both directions, which is the case with Mom, m-o-m, Dad, d-a-d, and sis, s-i-s. If they call him “bro”, b-r-o then, he is absolutely right. BUT, look at the title of this joke. If that is the boy’s name then what?
And THAT’s what’s so funny!