my failed attempt at "teaching" humor...

so today . . . it occurs to me that five year olds just can't tell jokes...

"if april showers are may flowers, then what is it?"

"pilgrims. AHAHAHAHAHA!"

yes, the "hilarity" continues. i heard various versions of that joke all. day. long. i kept trying to correct them, and they kept mangling it. and it didn't matter how they told it, they always ended it with a big, fake laugh. and then i heard more "jokes," all of which also ended with big fake laughs. apparently they think a joke is just a question with an answer that is totally unrelated and is followed by a big fake laugh. i think the laugh is to indicate that they have just told you a joke... you know, in case you can't tell by how funny it is. or isn't.

and then it happened. nicholas told a real joke. correctly.

"knock! knock!"

"who's there?"

"orange."

"orange who?"

you know how it goes. he continued.

"knock! knock!"

"who's there?"

"orange."

"orange who?"

the little girl he had chosen as the victim for his joke was confused, and starting to lose interest. i was pulling for him, and hoping he would see he was losing her and just jump to the punchline. but he is five. he doesn't know how to read those social cues and respond yet. and whoever had taught him the joke had probably said to use "orange" three times. so he did.

"knock! knock!"

"who's there?"

"orange."

"orange WHO?"

"JUST TELL HER THE PUNCHLINE," i was thinking!! "QUICKLY BEFORE SHE RUINS YOUR PERFECTLY RECITED JOKE!!!" he continued.

"knock! knock!"

"who's there?"

"banana."

wait a minute. that's not right. banana doesn't make any sense.

oh shoot. i am telling it wrong...

AHAHAHAHAHA!

(note: this is a true story. i did not realize i had messed up the joke until the end of the blog. i thought about going back to correct it, so that it would be told the way it actually happened, but i decided my mistake was funnier than the story i was trying to tell, so i left it. nicholas, however, did tell the joke correctly. sadly, the little girl did not "get" it. maybe that's why five year olds don't waste any brain cells trying to remember jokes correctly...)