Disclaimer: 99.9% of you won't think this joke is funny at all, but if you happen to have the mind of a toddler who is obsessed with trains and you are currently learning animal noises, this might crack you up. Here's the joke:
"What does the train say?"That's it - there is no punchline. Told you it wasn't funny. Last night while we were riding the Disneyland train I asked Jordan this question and he paused like he was thinking for a second, then he looked at me and busted up laughing.
Why so funny? In Norman Cousins' book Head First he explains that humor happens when an established train of thought takes an unexpected turn - that turn is usually the punchline. Lately with Jordan we've been working on the animal noises. He can tell you what a monkey, dog, cow, bird, and duck all say. I think he's associated the phrase "What does a ____ say?" with animals, and has established a train of thought that goes with the activity. When I, seemingly out of nowhere, asked what a train says, I disrupted the normal thought process and allowed his mind to make an unexpected connection - thus he laughed.
This is the first time I've made him laugh on an intellectual level. I'm excited to see what jokes he comes up with as his language skills improve.
3 comments:
I think this might be one of the most important milestones to record in a kid's life-the emergence of his sense of humor. It's way more important than learning to walk or say "Dad."
It seems logical that Jordan would have a intelligent sense of humor given his parents
I should have pointed out in the original post - but that picture just cracks me up. If you were disappointed in the lame joke, just click on that picture of Jordan so you see the great big version and look at that face. It makes me laugh every time.
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