I Wonder If It's True...

Valdosta, Georgia
January 16, 2013 12:48pm CST
I have always been told "There is half seriousness to every joke"... Based on that theory...Well, I am not liking this theory much. From the jokes you have told, honestly...Is it true? When you tell a joke are you half serious about what your saying? Or is it plain and simply just a joke?
4 people like this
18 responses
@Mavic123456 (21898)
• Thailand
17 Jan 13
i have a dilemma here, what if the person really mean to joke about something? could it be too bad to be considered that it was half meant truth? and if this is half meant true... then everyone will be scared to share a joke.
• Valdosta, Georgia
17 Jan 13
Well like I thought some people do this all the time. Instead of hurting someone's feelings saying the truth in a mean way, they joke about it instead. So they actually mean what their joking about they are just trying to spare some feelings...
@Mavic123456 (21898)
• Thailand
17 Jan 13
in this note.. now I will be scared to joke so I won't be charged of sarcasm... I am now in the brink whether I will be joking or not.
@jenny1015 (13366)
• Philippines
17 Jan 13
I'd say that I would make a joke out of something that i would really want to convey to a certain person so that he/she won't get mad at me if I brutally tell the truth about what I wanted to say. My victim would often be my SIL. She has so much time playing online games or reading her ebooks and all yet her house is a mess. So I would often tell her that her house just looks like Hurricane Katrina stopped by to check on her! Glad that she is so used to my way of saying things to her.
@jenny1015 (13366)
• Philippines
18 Jan 13
Exactly! So it is like saying, "buttering the painful truth". Not really intending to hurt other's feelings but you would want them to realize something that needs to be done.
• Valdosta, Georgia
17 Jan 13
Yes see, I knew some people do this! Lol. I understand, instead of hurting someone with the truth we play it off as a joke so the person won't feel so bad about it...
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
17 Jan 13
I think this stems from the fact that most of the serious things that we deal with in everyday life are hard to talk about. And sometimes, as our defense mechanism, we deal with it through humor. Maybe from 90% real and 10% joke, it turns the other way around with the joke being the bigger weight. But still there would still be that small percentage of truth.
• Valdosta, Georgia
17 Jan 13
That is a very good point and a good way to put it. It is easier I guess to seem like we are joking instead of out right hurting someone with our words...
@pahak627 (4558)
• Philippines
16 Jan 13
For me there's no truth in a joke. It's just a joke which is made just for fun.
• Valdosta, Georgia
17 Jan 13
I think it is different for different people.
@911Ricki (13588)
• Canada
16 Jan 13
Yep, I know I do this, and the girl I work with does as well. You are trying o get a message across without hurting their feelings.
• Valdosta, Georgia
17 Jan 13
Aaahh, so YOUR guilty! See, I knew some people do this!
@mariaperalta (19073)
• Mexico
17 Jan 13
I think jokes, take peoples thought off of all the bad around us. At least to me they do. Have a great day there.
• Valdosta, Georgia
17 Jan 13
Yes for some people what they say is truly a joke. For others they are trying to get a message across without being mean about it...
@AmbiePam (84651)
• United States
23 Jan 13
No, I don't think I'm half serious when I joke. I think I'm half serious when I insult someone. Luckily, that doesn't happen often. And quite frankly I'm surprised this is my response. I'm trying to remember the last time I insulted someone. I think it was myself.
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
16 Jan 13
If I tell a joke it's a joke.....for real. I don't mix the two up. If I have something to say I say it....straight forward like it should be.
• Valdosta, Georgia
17 Jan 13
I wish everyone was that way... It's good to not mix the two up. Some people do though, they will be mean about something and then say oh I was just joking.
• United States
16 Jan 13
A joke is a joke. Like a duck is a duck. I think whoever was telling you this meant it in a different way possibly. Sometimes people will give someone a sarcastic remark or put down, and of course, they then say "I'm just joking!"....but they're not and that's where the seriousness is coming from. But that's not always true, and sometimes people are just simply joking with the other person. Geesh, how confusing is this already, lol! Other than that, a joke is just that..a joke.
• Valdosta, Georgia
17 Jan 13
Well that is what they were talking about, when people are sarcastic and then say I'm just joking but you know they were not joking, they were just trying to cover their butts! Lol. I think that is what they were talking about...
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
18 Jan 13
I have to admit that I've never been told that there is a half seriousness to every joke, but now that you've mentioned it, I can see where there might be some truth to this. However, I don't think that this is something that is always the truth. I think that you are able to tell a joke about some things where they are done simply for the reaction that you would be able to get out of people. However, there are other subjects that you might joke about where there is a certain seriousness about the joke. For example, my husband will rib me about hanging out with my ex-boyfriend and though it seems like joking at face value, I do think that he is serious about it to a certain extent.
@vandana7 (98527)
• India
17 Jan 13
Somewhere I read that if you need to add at the end of it "it was only a joke", then IT IS NOT. I know some people do not think much of what they can accept as joke. But not everybody is that insensitive. Different people are sensitive to different issues, depending upon how it has affected them in their lives. So when we joke, it can hurt...so we need to watch out for that I suppose otherwise it is ridiculing the person, which is not very nice, is it? But at times, some people are able to offer suggestions through jokes, which would be hard to give as a serious advise. I can only say...not everybody is good at this...but some people are..
@inertia4 (27961)
• United States
27 Jan 13
Always remember one thing. Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. A joke is just a joke. Now if it were said in a sarcastic manor, then I would think differently. Don't get so worried.
21 Jan 13
No I don’t think this is true of all jokes. Some jokes are “a joke with a jag” which means there is a little truth in it. Like if someone has done something to annoy you and you wanna make a little dig at them, but you make it sound like a joke.. that’s a joke with a jag that has some truth in it. Some things are just jokes :)
• United States
16 Jan 13
A joke is a joke. It's not necessarily a put down on the person you share the joke with. Sure, there are people who put down others in a joking way. I'm sure it's true, but I think the agenda is difference between just a joke and a out down.
• Valdosta, Georgia
16 Jan 13
Yeah maybe it varies from one person to the next or the situation at the time. One joke might be half serious while another could just be a joke.
@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
17 Jan 13
My father jokes with my mum, but you can hear the hidden sarcasm in the joke because the joke is usually at my mum's expense, and he has a serious expression when he says it, if mum doesn't see the funny side, father tells her to laugh and lighten up and not to take it seriously, yet how can she not, when the joke is about her or what she has done or not done, mum is very sensitive, and he shouldn't joke with her the way he does. I view his jokes as cruelty, plain and simple.
@bhelle76 (353)
• Canada
17 Jan 13
The theory you just said is definitely true in my opinion. This is the reason why I don't usually joke to anybody. I was once experienced a joke when I was in high school from my classmates but it absolutely affected me that much and I don't want that to happen to anybody.
@ZoeJoy (1392)
• United States
17 Jan 13
Sometimes people can get a message across better when it is delivered with a sense of humor. So, there can indeed be some truth to the seriousness behind a joke. When my kids were little and in daycare, they learned to pick up their toys when the teacher would sing a 'pick up toys' song. I would sing the same song at home, to help them pick up their toys in our house. When my children got older and outgrew that childish song, if they didn't pick up their toys and clothes, I would start singing that song. I would sing it with humor, but they got the point. They are too old for a childish song but old enough to pick up after themselves. I didn't have to yell or nag them. The message got across with lightness and yes, a little childish silliness and humor. So, humor can be many things - but there can be some seriousness to humor as well.
• Philippines
17 Jan 13
Sometimes, not all people can speak to you directly for some other reason they always have some reservations and for that they usually deliver the message by way of a joke and with your stock knowledge of the issue, you will have something to think after when your already alone.