Can You Take a Joke?

When I became friends with a bunch of Europeans and Canadians, I learned too many American jokes. Now, I can take a joke. And I can certainly laugh at specific aspects of being an American/American culture, even when it's all non-Americans doing the teasing. But after a while, some jokes just became repetative and annoying. From that point on, I guess I became more selective about what was funny and what was a stupid pain in the ass as far as jokes based on nationality.

I've known of people thrown out of bars in Germany just for being American and not a damn thing else. I have walked through Wales and been asked what part of Canada I was from...and when I finally asked back, "Why does everybody think I'm Canadian?", the answer was simple: "Well, you're too smart and too polite to be an American." Ouch. We all know that the world does not love us as a nation. The teasing gets old. The jokes become the same ol', same ol'. And retelling them doesn't make them any funnier.

But that doesn't mean that if you don't have an original jibe to share, I won't laugh my ass off.

I feel the same way about French jokes. A long time ago, I didn't care one way or the other. But once I fell in love with a Frenchman, I started to become more and more aware of how we tease about them. Some of the jokes are just plain stupid. For instance, ha to the fucking ha about the French always surrendering. If you look at their military history on the whole instead of focus on, say, WWII, you'll find out that they weren't so shabby and didn't always run away like Sir Robin from The Holy Grail. And the "Boy you French don't shave and don't use soap" jokes???? FREAKING LAME! All the French women I know shave--shock. And all but one French person I know bathe regularly. The one French guy I know who does not bathe regularly is also a total gaming geek, and if you think that's nationality based, I could gladly take you to several of my male geek friends here in America who do not bathe either. For some reason, basic hygiene is not so important to a geek who has no social life. I can't stand those sorts of jokes. They're just plain lame.

But that doesn't stop me from laughing at a good French jibe, either.

So here's one that actually made me laugh....

Sitting together on a train, traveling through the Swiss Alps, are a French guy an American guy, an old Greek lady and a young blonde Swiss girl. The train goes into a dark tunnel and a few seconds later there is the sound of a loud slap. When the train emerges from the tunnel, the Frenchman has a bright red hand print on his cheek. No one speaks. The old lady thinks: The Frenchman must have groped the blonde in the dark, and she slapped his cheek. The blonde thinks: That Frenchman must have tried to grope me in the dark, but missed and fondled the old lady and she slapped his cheek. The Frenchman thinks: The American must have groped the blonde in the dark. She tried to slap him but missed and got me instead. The American thinks: I can't wait for another tunnel, so I can smack that Frenchman again.