You Had to be There

Humorous Blog 2

For this to make sense the first thing you need to know is that my roommate is exceedingly studious. She is the person who wakes up early to get her work done and then stays up late triple checking everything making sure it is done correctly. She never thinks that her work is good enough and is never “done”. But me, I really enjoy sleeping. I have never been able to wake up early to study or finish homework; it is just not in my genes. (I took one 8 am class. Never again.)

So last night, we were making dinner and talking about our plans for tomorrow and what all we needed to get done. Having been really busy this past week with papers, tests, and reading assignments, I was planning on catching up on some much needed sleep tomorrow morning. My roommate on the other hand said she had work to do and desperately needed to get to the library so she would be able to concentrate.

Keep in mind that while we were having this conversation she is yawning and has been saying how tired she is all night. So, after a few moments I turned to her and asked if she is going to sleep in tomorrow. She looks at me with a bewildered look on her face and says “Sleep in?” The tone in her voice was perfect. It was as if she thought I was crazy for even mentioning it! Instantly I burst out laughing. The way she spoke combined with the tone of her voice as if I was acting absurd was hilarious. She too quickly joined in on the laugh realizing how she had said that. This was the definition of my roommate. Maybe this is one of those occasions where you had to be there to find it funny, or maybe you just need to know my roommate but it was really funny.

Something to Laugh About

Andy Borowitz must have an unusual sense of humor. All of the stories I have read so far in his books are diverse. Some are classics and obviously humorous, such as Vacation ’58, while other are awkward and lack the normal view of what one considers funny, such as The Waltz and A Few Words about Breast. And then comes this weeks reading. They are funny because of the serious tone that each implores. As I have read these stories the past few weeks I have become more adept at identifying what I find humorous and what I most certainly do not.

Tips for Women: How to Have A Relationship with a Guy is one of the funnies pieces I have read. The vast amount of techniques he utilizes to make his point that guys do not think like women made me laugh one more than a few occasions. Right off the bat, Dave Barry uses an oldie but a goody in terms of humor devices-cognitive shift. His first line says “it’s fairly easy to develop a long term…relationship with a guy” and ends with revealing this male must be a dog. Ultimately this must bring a smile to your face. You cannot help but think this Barry’s opening line is clever. He hooks you in thinking he is going to reveal one of life’s oldest mysteries (how do men think) only to take that hope away and replace it with the common conception that dogs can be better for women than a man can be.

One of the best parts of this story was the author’s fictional interpretation of how different a man and women think when it comes to their private thoughts. This woman, Elaine, is so serious with every word she chooses and thinks about every detail of Roger’s inflection and face twitch, while Roger is merely thinking about his car. His narration of the women is down pat in my opinion. It is a stereotypical view of a woman’s thoughts, but it is so true and so inline with the typical woman that you cannot help but laugh. The humor of this dialogue back and forth between Roger and Elaine is not in the actual words that they exchange, but in Barry’s description of their thought processes. Roger is “glad to finally know the correct answer” to one of Elaine’s questions. I found this amusing because in most situations when a woman is crying for no apparent reason there is no correct answer a man can give and Barry picks up on that fact and uses it to further point out the differences between their thought processes.

I really rather enjoyed this piece of writing. Another quote that I could not help but smile at was in regard to why men are afraid of committing-“The fear that if you get attached to a woman, some unattached guy, somewhere, will be having more fun that you.” The fact that he boils the answer down to its most basic form is witty. Not to mention that logic, at least to women, is absurd. Women cannot comprehend this type of logic in their mind, but seeing it spelled out in black and white makes it genius in my mind and truly funny. This entire piece of literature was truly funny in my opinion and Barry is the only writer in the book so far that I have found to be truly worthy of being deemed one of the 50 best American writers.

While not quite up to par with David Barry on the humor level, The Onion is still a funny piece of literature. I think I like this genre of humor writing because it takes a serious tone about a non-serious issue. Similar to Barry’s story the humor is in the truth. Countries that do not use many vowels in their words are extremely difficult for Americans to pronounce, and adding vowels would be beneficial for our sake. Exaggeration is used often because the author uses names that do not use any vowels at all, but his point is made and in a comical way. The last paragraph in the story is humorous because the author is playing with the initial notion of delivering vowels but now insists on delivering consonants. The tone of the entire piece makes us laugh because he sounds serious but what he is describing is the furthest thing from serious.  Tone carries a lot of weight in this piece of literature and really brings the humor to light.

Round Two

Second Meeting With Alya:

I am not really a fan of Mondays. They come right after the weekend and on top of that are my longest days. But the past two Mondays have been better than normal because I have been able to meet with Alya. It is such a treat getting to meet with someone who has been to Saudi and knows what it is like. She is the only other person I know, besides my parents, who has been there. We are able to talk about experiences we have had without having to describe what something is, so the conversations are much more free flowing compared to just questions and answers. It really is great! I try to talk to my friends about the weather in Saudi, but if you have never lived through that summer you can’t really feel the heat. Alya knows and can relate to those horrendous months.

We began our conversation right where we left off last time or how two friends would begin. She told me about the busy weekend she had about going to Dallas three times! Apparently she has a friend there who she enjoys spending time with. Also, there are parks there that her kids can run around in and play. She says that she loves how America is so friendly to kids! Her husband wants to tire the kids out before they go to a restaurant-which they always do in Dallas.

Along that same note, Alya talks to me in way as if I am in on the joke when describing her culture and their customs. Not to mean that her culture or customs are a joke by any means, I just don’t know how to explain it in another manner. Some of the stories or examples she describes to me make me feel like I am in on her culture. For instance, today she was talking about a friend of hers who did not understand Arab food traditions. In Saudi, and other Arab nations, the host provides many courses of food whenever someone comes over. If you were coming for tea, it would include about 8 different food courses along with the tea. Alya told me about how her friend kept saying she was full and did not want to eat anymore, but Alya kept giving her food. Her friend finally insisted on not eating more and pushed her plate away. Alya laughed and said that Arabs have to keep giving food and giving food even when people say no. It was funny for me to hear this because she is very right! All of the times I have had meals with Arab families they serve so much food and keep putting it on my plate even when I do not want to eat anymore. It is just a completely different culture from ours here in America.

Papers. The dread of every college student. That goes for Alya too! She had a paper due today that was all about references. She told me that she is not proud of her English speaking, but writing and grammar comes more naturally to her. Even with the self esteem builder of liking her writing she was really nervous to turn in her essay. It is comforting to see how similar all people are regardless of their background. Turning in research papers still makes people queasy.

Today, Alya shared a few personal things with me regarding her family. She said that her children do not have many friends to play with outside of school. I was shocked to hear this because I could not imagine not playing with other children on the weekends or after school. But she told me that she lives in apartments off campus that are mostly for students, and none of them have children so there was no way for her children to play with other kids. I mentioned sleepovers with kids from school and she looked confused. She admitted that she did not know that word, and looked a little embarrassed to admit that. I tried to reassure her that it was completely all right if she didn’t one word, and explained what I meant. As I tried my best to explain what I was talking about she told me that they do not have those in Saudi! I was shocked! No sleepovers? I think of this as a right of passage for children-spending their first night away from mom and dad or grandparents. She asked several more questions on this topic and said that she would give it a try with her child’s friend from school. I was so happy that I was able to share something with her that might be able to help her kids. 

My meetings with Alya continue to be a blast! I am so excited that she is my conversation partner and feel like we never have enough time to talk before one of us has to leave. There are so many things I want to know about her experiences and so many things I want to ask about being a woman in Saudi, especially now that she has experienced the freedoms of America. 

Not so funny

Seeing as the book is called “50 Funniest American Writers”, I would have thought that these short stories would be laugh out loud funny.  I would even take a little chuckle or an ending with a twist. The first story we read (The Ransom of Red Chief) about the little boy who was a terror was a funny story. Even though it was not laugh out loud funny, it fell into the category of a cute ending that makes it memorable. To me, it is the kind of story I will look back on and think ‘that was funny’. And that is all I am really looking for at this point.

But these two stories that I read today were not great. I would categorize them as women complaining and less as humorous anecdotes about their life. While the first story did have a few laughs, the second was just plain awkward. Dorothy Parker’s short story ‘The Waltz’ begins in a light mood that had potential. I could hear this woman racing through dozens of thoughts, jumping around to different places. It appeared to me as the type of thing a woman does when she is nervous or feels uncomfortable. Most people would feel those emotions in her given situation-dancing with a stranger.

The first hint of humor I found in this story was through her sarcasm. I am a fairly sarcastic person and surround myself with people who find sarcasm as a form of humor and who do not take it in a nasty manner. But there are some people who do not find it funny, and instead find it mean. While reading the first few pages of this story I was inclined to think of her sarcasm as the former. For instance, when she is commenting on what else she was supposed to do when someone asks her to dance I found that true and funny. She says, or more correctly she thinks, “What can you say, when a man ask you to dance with him? I most certainly will not dance, with you, I’ll see you in hell first.” (p. 72). This is the kind of response a person would say to a friend when they are justifying an action that they did not want to do. There was no polite way to get out of that situation so she had to be polite by saying yes. I found her response sarcastic, which is where the humor is brought in. Someone who has never been exposed to sarcasm as a form of humor may find her remarks solely harsh. Those cultures in different parts of the world, other than here in the US, may not understand sarcasm and thus would find this story mean.

Another element of humor in this book was the juxtaposition. While she thinks to herself that him stepping on her hurts a great deal, she tells him it did not hurt and that is was her fault. The nicety she attempts to put of brings a few moments of laughter to this story. Exaggeration is another area that is explored to create humor. When the song keeps going, she begins to feel irritated about the length of the song. At one point she comments about “the thirty-five years this Waltz has lasted” (p. 75). The song has obviously not lasted that long, but her desire for the song to end makes every second seem like years. I think I found this part funny, because it could easily happen to me, or to anyone really. We have all attended meetings or waited for someone and felt that time was not moving at all. That feeling of the event never ending makes us exaggerate. That is what this author is feeling during this dance.

Up to this point in the story, the woman appears irritated and thus comes across as funny. But she soon turns in to a jerk who is just plain mean. When she begins to think about going back to the table and no long dancing she says “ I’d probably have to talk to him” (p. 76). Now that is just mean. At this point she is just complaining about anything she can. She needs to stop because she puts herself in a negative light. What has this guy ever done to her? Nothing, except be courteous.  From there, it just gets worse. She complains the rest of the pages and is a liar when she ends by saying she is sad that the band is stopping. I do not like complainers.

The second story is not much better. Nora Ephron rambles on for twelve pages about how she has small breasts. She does not say anything funny and is just awkward. She reveals personal information about faking cramps and about the first guy who touched her. Honestly, I did not like this story either. I think she should have written this in her diary and not published it. I am unclear as to why anyone would classify this as a funny story. It is just one woman complaining. The only slightly humorous part is when she tells of her friend who thought that breast grow when husbands rub and kiss them. The pure dumbness and random illogical thinking that went in to someone think that was true made me laugh. Other than that, there was nothing redeeming about it.

Meeting Alya

“American coffee is too bland.” During my first meeting with Alya, my conversation partner, we met at the bookstore. I am a huge fan of coffee and thought that Alya would be too. Unfortunately, she has not grown to like American coffee since she has been here, and preferred to stick to tea. I found that she is from a small town in Saudi Arabia near Dhahran. I was excited to learn to learn that my conversation partner was from Saudi Arabia, since my parents currently live there and I have visited a few times over the past 3 years. It was nice to see that we already had a connection-a lots to talk about! We started with the basics of where she was from and she said that her town is where all of the dates come from in Saudi. If you have never been to Saudi you would not know how important dates are to Saudis, but take it from me they eat them with everything. They are kind of like mints in the sense that they eat dates as a cleanse of the pallet after a meal, but they also eat them as snacks and even deserts. Alya told me that the dates are what she misses most about Saudi, so she brought ten boxes with her to America!

Since I know a little about the women in the Saudi culture I was able to better understand her sentiments on a few topics-driving, education, and future work. I was interested to know if Alya drives since she is in American (since driving is illegal for women in Saudi Arabia). She laughed for a bit and said that one of the first things she did when she got to America was get a drivers license. I thought this was quite funny too. But she seemed less excited now than she was a year ago when she first learned to drive. She mostly lets her husband drive. I found this odd. I would have thought that after years of being forbidden to drive, she would drive everyday to makes up for he lack of driving experience. But her culture does not teach her to resent to rebel things, they are just the way they were meant to be. For generations and generations women have let the men do the driving, and she does not see a need for that too change. I have been to Saudi for three months at a time, and just during those months when it is illegal for me to drive I go stir crazy, so it is hard for me to image being okay with not driving. I liked that Alya was so open with me about her view of their culture and ours.

We also talked about what she was doing in America. It turns out that she and her husband both takes English classes her at TCU. She came to America to improve her English so she can take the GMAT and get accepted into a school to learn Information Systems and one day teach it to women in Saudi Arabia. I was really surprised to hear that she has such high dreams and aspirations, considering a lot of Saudi women grow up to get married and become wives and mothers. It is an honor in their culture to get married and have babies because large families are valued. It was wonderful to see her want to make a step toward furthering her education.

She was telling me a little bit about her English lessons here at TCU and told me that she is embarrassed about her speaking performance. Honestly I was shocked! Her English is amazing. Way better than my Arabic that’s for sure. She told me that she does not like going to restaurants and ordering food because she is afraid that people will not understand her and she will not be able to explain what she was saying. I tried to reassure her about her English abilities and let her know that she is wonderful! She may even be considered fluent. She did not stumble with any words during our conversation except she was not sure what a thermos was. Other than that is was perfect. While she was a little down on herself, it was nice to see her opening up to me and being honest about her feelings.

Along those same lines, Alya was telling me about her children’s experience with learning English. She has two children, a boy 5, and a girl 3. They are both in a daycare during the day and are learning English. She made a joke and said that their English was so much better than hers that maybe she should go to their daycare too to learn English. While she did have a sense that their adaptability to English was probably due to their age and not their teachers it was nice to hear her make a joke. I think it is true that when we are able to laugh at our perceived misfortunes we are content if life. For her, she is content with her English abilities because she is able to make jokes about it.

Overall, our meeting was very successful! I really enjoyed meeting Alya and think that all of our meeting will continue to be great. I am excited about them because I want to ask her questions about the Arab culture that I have not been able to ask other Saudi’s before. I hope that she will continue to feel comfortable with me.

So Funny

Today I walked in to my living room and my roommate was laughing so hard that she had tears coming down her face. I didn’t know what she was laughing about, but immediately started smiling myself and wanted desperately to know what she found so funny. As she sat laughing in her chair pointing at her phone, I couldn’t help but laugh myself at her inability to stop laughing. Eventually she calmed down and explained that she had seen a quote that a friend had posted on her Facebook wall. She handed me her phone so I could see it firsthand.

This is what it said: “In grade 8 I did a power point presentation on ‘whooping cough’ and my opening slide was a photo of Whoopi Goldberg coughing and I was the only person who laughed at it and I couldn’t start the presentation for like five minutes because I was laughing too hard at my own joke”.

Immediately I started laughing. I am not sure what exactly made me laugh so much at this quote, but I think it was all of the components that make this so hilarious. It all started with my roommate’s intense laughter. She put me in the state to expect to laugh, and I wanted to be laughing with her. Then came the image of this person’s situation. Imagine a student, beginning to do a presentation (which it self already sets up a serious tone, since most classroom presentations are formal) on a serious topic, whopping cough. Then they use a play on words and present Whoopie coughing. If I had been in this kid’s class I think I would have laughed too. It just seems so unexpected that you have to laugh. And the final element that led to me finding this situation hilarious was how the person said that no one else laughed with him. It would be so funny to watch a person laughing so much at their own joke, only to have no one else laugh with them. All of these elements led to me laughing with my roommate for a good few minutes. Even now as I am writing this, and think back to the quote, I am laughing. It is just so funny you cannot help but laugh!