Last week I was watching the movie Ninotchka.\u00a0 Greta Garbo portrays a scowling Russian envoy who\u2019s in Paris to negotiate the sale of jewels confiscated from the aristocracy to provide hard currency to capitalize the communist regime.\u00a0 There she meets Melvyn Douglas playing the French nobleman Count Leon d’Algout.\u00a0 He is working to return the jewels to his friend the former Grande Duchess Swana.\u00a0 And of course, he falls in love with Garbo.\u00a0 As a good soviet citizen, she despises his mercenary business practices.\u00a0 But he does what he can to ingratiate himself to her.\u00a0 Finally, he manages to manufacture a \u201ccoincidental\u201d restaurant encounter.\u00a0 While attempting to lighten the mood he offers to tell a joke to get her to laugh.\u00a0 Several attempts fall flat without even a smile from her sullen face.\u00a0 Finally he tells her his best joke:<\/p>\n
\u201cA man walks into a restaurant, calls over the waiter and says I want a cup of coffee without cream. \u00a0The waiter goes into the kitchen and returns a minute later and says I\u2019m very sorry but we\u2019re all out of cream can it be without milk?\u201d<\/p>\n
The rest of the patrons of the restaurant overhear the joke and all burst out laughing at the punchline.\u00a0 But from Ninotchka, nothing.\u00a0 Leon is incensed.\u00a0 He hectors her, \u201cEveryone else laughed.\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t you?\u201d\u00a0 She replies, \u201cBecause it isn\u2019t funny.\u201d\u00a0 He becomes flustered and says he\u2019ll tell it again more slowly and make sure she understands it.\u00a0 He retells it, stumbling over the details and finally asks, \u201cWell?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not funny\u201d she says.\u00a0 Exasperated, he tells her she doesn\u2019t have a drop of humor in her.\u00a0 He leans back in his chair puts his elbow on the table behind him and goes crashing to the floor along with the table and chair.\u00a0 The whole restaurant bursts out in laughter at him.\u00a0 Leon gets off the floor and tries to gather his shattered dignity in the face of the uproar of laughter.\u00a0 And then he sees that Ninotchka is almost falling over with laughter at his plight.\u00a0 He looks down with a scowl that combines anger and hurt pride.\u00a0 Ninotchka stops laughing and seems slightly contrite when Leon bursts out laughing himself and they share a good laugh.<\/p>\n
So why am I telling you this old movie scene?\u00a0 It\u2019s a good enough scene and the acting was fine.\u00a0 But retelling movies is a waste of time.\u00a0 I relate it because it occurred to me that it illustrates a dichotomy that I have seen in my own acquaintance.<\/p>\n
The world divides itself very clearly into two groups.\u00a0 People who find that joke at least slightly amusing and those who see absolutely no humor in it at all.\u00a0 Within my own marriage this difference exists.\u00a0 Even among my children, the dichotomy is there. \u00a0Among friends and colleagues the same thing . \u00a0Two camps. \u00a0So, what is this characteristic?\u00a0 I\u2019m not entirely sure.\u00a0 Maybe it has to do with the way people use language. \u00a0It seems that those who are quieter do not find the joke funny. \u00a0It may be something well known or maybe it’s meaningless. \u00a0But I throw it out there and encourage you all to try it out.\u00a0 Tell someone the joke and then ask him if it is not at all funny or at least somewhat funny.\u00a0 See if you can determine some grouping within these camps that explains the dichotomy.\u00a0 If you come up with a theory pass it along to me. \u00a0And tell me who you think are the happier group. \u00a0Those that laugh at it or those that don’t. \u00a0For the sake of complete disclosure I think it’s funny.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last week I was watching the movie Ninotchka.\u00a0 Greta Garbo portrays a scowling Russian envoy who\u2019s in Paris to negotiate the sale of jewels confiscated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,239,238,237],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-movie-reviews","category-classic-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-humor","tag-language","tag-personality"],"yoast_head":"\n