Shaggy Dog Stories

What experiences/backgrounds does someone have to have to like the joke? (Like an insider/culture)

Based on the readings and analyzing we did from Gee, we all agree that the background and audience play a big role into who would like the joke and understand it. For example, if someone foreign from another country came and heard the first "joke" from shaggy dog stories, they wouldn't understand the intertextuality. The fact that words in shaggy dog stories have double meanings could even prose an issue to those that aren't familiar with the meaning of shaggy dog stories. For example, let's say you told a lawyer to read the one about the mail and the check. He/she may take it offensive, so the audience is definitely something to consider as well as the age. We wouldn't want to tell this to a 10 year old because of their understanding and knowledge. Not only would they not understand but we feel that there’s an excess amount of violence on it.

 A man shot a female bear who wasn't even the one who ate the lawyer's friend.

"Don't trust a lawyer when he says the (Czech)oslovakian is in the male"

Along with the double meaning word standards, the pattern of grammar is something I feel that we (with some English background *whether major or minor*) have better preparation to understand than a mathematician or scientist.  I feel that due to their (scientist and mathematician) immense technicality they would read it plainly as in oppose to us that understand the word order because we're more trained in English than they are. In order for someone to like or understand a joke they would have to be within the same Discourse as the person telling it in order for them to fully understand the puns or humor in the joke. We have attached a video from “Dwight” from the office. He explains from the vantage point of an actor how Ricky Gervais (creator of the office comedy) capitalized on the shift on what counts as humor in this generation- which is reaction to behavior rather than the traditional "set up, set up, punch line". Hence, it explains why lot of people shaggy dog stories may not be as funny to people now.

http://youtu.be/aIiErKX6JDY