SHOCK HORROR: The Folklore of Disasterpages: Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 © Warren Fahey [page 7] Understandably the airlines feature in many jokes. Despite millions of dollars spent on advertising campaigns that tells us they are ‘floating luxury hotels’ it is apparent many of us still fear flying. It doesn’t make sense being up in the skies in a big metal bus and folklore has a habit of reinforcing such doubts through humour. The fact remains that four regular passenger aeroplanes were hijacked for the USA attacks with two hitting the World Trade Centre Towers, one hitting the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. and the fourth crashing in Pennsylvania; apparently the passengers forced the airline down to avoid a major collision. Q: What is the quickest way to the World Trade Centre? Q: Did you hear American Airlines is now offering a new service? Q: Did you hear about the hot dog seller who was dug out of the rubble after several days buried in the basement? Q: Did you hear that American Airlines has introduced a new service? Q: What is world most efficient airline? American Airline's pilot announcement: "It's a bird!" Q: What should have tipped off the ticket sellers? Q: What team does a United Airlines pilot support? Q: What's the number one drink served on United Airlines? Famous last words: airline pilot "Right a bit, hey, the World Trade Centre, my (insert: 74/disc 5. WTC puzzle) Black or sick jokes about airline disasters are not new and, as a folklore comparison, soon after the ill-fated Concorde disaster on July 25, 2000, the following jokes were collected in oral circulation: It took them eighty years since World War I, but the French finally figured out how to kill Germans. Q: Did you hear they have new Concorde schedules from Air France? Q: What would the captain of the plane be doing today if he hadn't been killed? Q: Why do wealthy German tourists love the Hotel Gonesse. Q: How many wealthy German tourists can fit into a VW Bug? Another airline crash at Mount Erebus, New Zealand, resulted in: Q: What's tall, white and kills Kiwis? The skyline of New York has obviously changed since the twin towers have fallen and many of the jokes concern New York in general. It is interesting to speculate how many of these jokes were accepted by New Yorkers as their own. I say this knowing that New York has a particular sense of humour as opposed, for example, to West Coast or Mid-West humour. It might possibly have something to do with the city’s perceived ‘Jewishness’ and its history for seeing the perverse side of humour. Another factor in the early distribution of humour is that the people directly involved in Ground Zero rescue work discovered that humour was a vital ingredient for their own well being. Rescue workers shared such humour amongst themselves, but were understandably reluctant to tell such jokes to any other group, including members of their immediate family. The rule appears to be that we need a period of ‘closure’ before we deem humour associated with tragedy to be acceptable. Q: What does WTC stand for? Q: How many WTC employees does it take to change a light bulb? Q: How do you get to the 50th floor of the World Trade Centre? Q: What happened to the World Trade Centre? Q: How long does it take to reach the ground from 107 stories up? Q: What was the last thing going through Mr. Jones head while sitting in his 90th floor office at the WTC ? Q: What was the last thing going through Mr. Smith’s head sitting in 110th floor of the WTC ? Q: What's the difference between Wembley and New York? Did you here that Australia square has moved up two places on Q: What do you call a New York dust storm? Q: What's the area code of the World Trade Center? Q: What was the quickest escape time from the World Trade Center? Q: How long does it take to reach the ground from 107 stories up? Q: In a game of chess between Bush and Laden who would win? A: Osama bin Laden because Bush doesn't have towers. Q: What do bin Laden and Hiroshima have in common? Q: How do you play Taliban bingo? Q: How is Bin Laden like Fred Flintstone? Q: What does Osama Bin Laden and General Custer have in common? Q: What is the definition of optimism” Q: How many New Yorkers does it take to change a light bulb? Q: What music do they play in the elevator in the WTC? Q: Did you hear that the US military has achieved its first victory in Afghanistan? Q: What is the five-day forecast for Afghanistan? New York should be renamed "Manflatten" Today FBI concluded that New York had been hit by a U.F.M Q: What did one terrorist say to the other terrorist before boarding their Q: Who's blonde, got big boobs and lives in Finland? Q: What's the difference between the attack on New York and the Oklahoma City Bombing? Famous last words: "Amal, was this tower here yesterday?" Q: Who are the fastest readers in the world? Q: Why do tourists flock to New York? New York, New York, so good they hit it twice |
HUMOUR |