11.10.2008

A joke for you

My four-year-old nephew was sitting on my lap after his brother's birthday party and chattering as usual. He was trying to tell knock-knock jokes, but, as I've noticed with other children about his age, they just don't understand Knock-Knock jokes at all. They just see the pattern of the joke, and that we laugh at the end, so they fill in random objects for the "Who's there?" and punchline. Kaden went on like this for a while, when I decided to show him what a REAL Knock-Knock joke sounded like:
Me: OK, I've got a Halloween joke! Knock Knock.
K: Who's there?
Me: Boo!
K: Boo Who?
Me: Oh, why are you crying?!
Needless to say, he didn't get it. But he had another joke for me.
K: Knock Knock.
Me: Who's there?
K: A ghost!
Me: Ghost Who?
K: Why are you crying!
Sigh. Maybe when he's older, he'll understand. And, I'll give it to him, I and the other family members listening in definitely laughed harder at his joke than at mine!
pain pump

2 comments:

affectioknit2 said...

That is so funny - my baby brother used to do one with Potato Bug and it still sends us into gales of laughter - and it makes no sense at all...

Matt Moberly said...

I just tried your joke out on my kids (4 and 3) and they both cracked up, but when I asked if they understood why I said "Why are you crying?" they just stared at me with blank faces.

The second joke reminds me of a knock knock joke I heard this weekend from a 6-year-old. It got quite a laugh out of me.

Kid: Knock knock!
Me: Who's there?
Kid: Banana!
Me: Banana who?
Kid: Knock knock!
Me: Who's there?
Kid: Orange!
Me: Orange who?
Kid: Knock knock!
Me: Who's there?
Kid: Apple!
Me: Apple who?
Kid: Apple you glad I didn't say orange or banana?

I've used "Apple you glad" a few times with my kids now, as in "Apple you glad we're going to the bookstore?"

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