SAVE THE HUMOURLESS...
The best thing about humourless people is that they don't realise they're often about the funniest things about. Even better is that the hilarity provided by the clinically humourless is entirely unintentional.
People born without a sense of humour are for all intents and purposes mentally and emotionally crippled, and unlike other unfortunates afflicted with such disabilities, it's okay to laugh at them.
There's nothing like the confused look on the face of a humourless person when they say something unintentionally hilarious. They quite often go on to aggravate the situation further in their utter bewilderment.
There's a certain amount of schadenfreude in it.
I've hardly ever come across such a shining example as provided by my fourth form social studies teacher. A small, balding man with a fastidious moustache, he favoured the kind of walkshorts, socks and pullover attire largely seen on a particular breed of New Zealand male that is widely believed to have died out in the early to mid 1980s.
We were doing some unit preparing us for an upcoming camp. He was lecturing us on various diseases commonly contracted whilst tramping in the bush. Namely, giardia.
So he proceeds to tell us about a camping trip his family had been on, during which they all contracted the crippling gut parasite.
"We all got explosive diarrhea," he said, matter of factly.
You just don't say something like that to twenty-odd 14 and 15 year olds. We were rolling in the isles.
But he just made it worse for himself:
"Do you think there's something funny about my wife and children being stuck in the toilet?"
Howls ensued.
"It's not funny! Have any of you ever had explosive diarrhea?"
Personally, I nearly ruptured something internally at that point.
"MY FAMILY WAS IN PAIN!"
Talk about digging your own grave.
Shadenfreude. The best German invention since bratwurst and Nina Hagen.
People born without a sense of humour are for all intents and purposes mentally and emotionally crippled, and unlike other unfortunates afflicted with such disabilities, it's okay to laugh at them.
There's nothing like the confused look on the face of a humourless person when they say something unintentionally hilarious. They quite often go on to aggravate the situation further in their utter bewilderment.
There's a certain amount of schadenfreude in it.
I've hardly ever come across such a shining example as provided by my fourth form social studies teacher. A small, balding man with a fastidious moustache, he favoured the kind of walkshorts, socks and pullover attire largely seen on a particular breed of New Zealand male that is widely believed to have died out in the early to mid 1980s.
We were doing some unit preparing us for an upcoming camp. He was lecturing us on various diseases commonly contracted whilst tramping in the bush. Namely, giardia.
So he proceeds to tell us about a camping trip his family had been on, during which they all contracted the crippling gut parasite.
"We all got explosive diarrhea," he said, matter of factly.
You just don't say something like that to twenty-odd 14 and 15 year olds. We were rolling in the isles.
But he just made it worse for himself:
"Do you think there's something funny about my wife and children being stuck in the toilet?"
Howls ensued.
"It's not funny! Have any of you ever had explosive diarrhea?"
Personally, I nearly ruptured something internally at that point.
"MY FAMILY WAS IN PAIN!"
Talk about digging your own grave.
Shadenfreude. The best German invention since bratwurst and Nina Hagen.
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