Strangers

For the past few months, Sarah and I have been chuckling over an interesting comment Dr. Rushton (the most quotable man I know) said once in passing. At the time he was giving tips on public speaking engagements, but the last phrase was the most memorable, "Jokes aren't funny from strangers." Up to this point, this has just been an insightful and witty comment that I have only taken at surface value, but yesterday, as I presented what I thought was a quite humorous while still informative powerpoint presentation for Prof. Facos's Women in Art History course I found that instead of uproarious laughter, my powerpoint was met with blank stares. My fellow art history students somehow did not understand why I placed an off-the-wall phrase on my chronology slide. Thinking back to Doug Booher's last classes, it seemed the slightest goofy clip-art could have the whole class rolling in the aisles. Something about knowing the people making the jokes makes them so much funnier. Anyway, this little snafu got me thinking about that comment from Dr. Rushton. There seems to be a deeper truth to that than I initially assumed. And as we all go off to our new jobs and internships, we are all at a place where we are all strangers again. Not strangers to each other, but strangers to our new colleagues, where ever we maybe.

The lesson we can all learn here I think is if you feel at any point in the first few weeks of your new position like you must tell your new coworker a great story about your pet laying on the floor in a funny position or how your left leg is a little longer than your right, it is important to remember, jokes aren't funny from strangers.