When I was a kid riding in the back seat of the car, going to Grandma's I recall my dad reading the Burma Shave signs to us before we were able to read. I love Burma Shave type jokes to this day!
This is a small town where I live now and many of the businesses are privately owned, not many franchise's here. And they have given their businesses some really quirky names: In Tillamook there is a radiator shop that advertises on their truck, "The Best Place In Town To Take A Leak".
A tree pruning service here is called, "The Tree Musketeers".
There is a septic tank service called "The Honeywagon". 'An expresso stand called, "The Jitters".
The above are just a few examples of what some deaf might have a problem with. A hearing person just learning about deaf culture needs to be aware of these things.
Lantana
I had a really tough time posting this time! I wrote, then posted, only to see that half of my post was missing! This happened several times, until finally I gave up.
ReplyDeleteWhat is missing is that we have a plant nursery here in the area, called "Basket Case". I always liked that name and wanted to share it with you.
Finally, sigh............
Lantana
The general perception, is deaf people have only one real source via humor, that is, via the 'misunderstandings' that occur when you haven't heard. Having read a lot of sites with deaf laughs in it, and seen vids, this does seem the case.
ReplyDelete'Topical' jokes you very rarely see from the deaf, irony and sarcastic jokes often go over their head too, because deaf tend to take things 'literally', reading between lines isn't a great skill deaf have.
Knowledge of current events, different types of humor, jokes based on historicall hearing events etc, all difficult for deaf to get with.
A lot is down to the isolation they feel from mainstream, the poor communications, and the fact their 'peers' are deaf and have the same thing to laugh with.
If you take a very simplistic joke like "My mother in law said she would enjoy dancing on my grave, so I said, GOOD !, I am going to be buried at sea...". How would that translate ?
harder than a deaf man being seen trying with some difficulty to communicate to a hearing person in sign, and cannot be understood, asking where the toilet was, and then ending up peeing himself because he couldn't get the message over.... which caused a load of laughs in a deaf club here....
MM
Does the amount of understanding of written english affect the perception of these jokes? I recognize that if told verbally, they would not translate well, but it seems like in written form they would be.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information!
Correct on all counts, "MM". It believe that it really depends on the deaf person and what their background is. I recetly told a "joke" to a couple of deaf people who are very, very bright people and it didn't go over very well. And I have been a part of deaf culture most of my life, so I mentally kicked myself in the pants.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your contribution. I loved your mother in law joke, even tho I am a mother in law myself, smile.
Lantana
And to Bill, yes, I have found that to be very true. If the deaf person can SEE the joke in written form, it is much easier for them to understand.
ReplyDeleteFor myself, I live in the hearing world a great deal and as you know, when you lipread, you only catch a word here and there and your brain tries to make a sentence or a conversation out of those few words. So I find that it is much easier if I am very familiar with the person, thus I can catch more words! Did I make any sense here?
Lantana
Humor primarily depends on delivery and timing as well as inherent know-how of the subject, so a 'subtle' joke can be very funny to hearing people, and the deaf will miss it entirely.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK we asked a web site to come up with a few jokes that would carry as well with hearing, as with deaf people, and they ALL were about 'misunderstandings', which if delivered by a hearing person, might well cause offence...
Jokes ABOUT deaf people go down like a lead balloon, deaf have lost that ability to see humor in themselves, and everyone is a potential 'discrimintor' now, and that, ISN'T funny.
'On a train from London to Manchester an American was berating the Englishman sitting across from him in the compartment. “You English are too stiff. You set yourself apart too much. You think your stiff upper lips make you above the rest of us. Look at me… I’m me. I have Italian blood, French blood, a little Indian blood and some Swedish blood. What do you say to that?”
The Englishman replied, “Very sporting of your mother.”
C ya.
MM
MM, that was great! Chuckle.
ReplyDeleteThere is always that oldie, "Why do farts smell bad?" ( 'So deaf people can enjoy them too). For some reason the deaf do not find this funny, but the hearing people fall down on the floor laughing!
Lantana
Showing my age a bit.....What we need is a deaf version of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In...
ReplyDeleteMM