Why Does This Strike Me As Funny?

Humor theorists say that we find non sequiters funny. When people act out of character, the incongruity strikes our funny bone.

Yet I also find it humerous when people act completely IN character. I don't know --maybe I just like laughing so much, I take any excuse.

Two examples of this happened today. In the first, one of the other lawyer's employees asked about D1. Now, she's known D1 since she was a little girl, and likes her. But, the employee has never had kids, and has shown repeatedly that she doesn't get this whole unconditional love for one's children thing.

In fact, she lives with her elderly mother, and has cats.

Anyway, as I was explaining the specific's of D1's accident, she cut me off. "How's the puppy?" I told her the dog was fine, but she kept peppering me with questions about the animal. "Was she scared?" "The puppy might have been hurt!"

My friend Mirta, observing this, kept interrupting her: "Yes, and D1 might have been hurt worse, and she WAS hurt..." But the other employee went on and on.

The point was --she doesn't know from children, she knows from animals. That made sense to her.

Later on, I had the pleasure of speaking with, or rather being spoken to, by my father in law.

Now, for reasons that evade ALL logic and good sense, Wifey told her parents about D1's accident. They've been obsessing about it all weekend, and all week.

Tonight my father in law called to tell me to be sure to check that D1's car's steering system is properly repaired. I just typed 12 words. He told me the preceeding over 20 minutes, working himself into a tizzy each time he mentioned "linkage" and "ball bearings."

Now, this is a man who shows his love by making sure his family is well fed and driving safe vehicles. I've known him for 26 years, and he's always been this way.

Still, as he went on and on and on and on and on, D2 watched me enduring his barking, and we both laughed (I held the phone away --not that he would have heard it).

Again --someone acting completely IN character, and yet it was funny.

These episodes remind me of a scene in "Fargo," where the detective is interviewing 2 North Dakota farm girls, who had spent the night with the fugitive killers.

"What did they look like?"

"They was funny looking."

"Funny looking?"

"Yeah --no more than most."

And so it went today.