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Not So Great Expectations
by Mad Dog


The important finding wasn’t just that men and women have different tastes in humor — think The Three Stooges vs. The Family Circus — but rather that women actually enjoy a good joke more than men. 
It should come as no great shock that a recent study found a difference between men and women. The shock is that it had nothing to do with asking for directions, putting the cap back on the toothpaste, or coming down with laryngitis when asked, “Do these pants make me look fat?” No, the study performed at the Stanford University School of Medicine (motto: “Take an aspirin and call your loan officer in the morning”) discovered that men and women have different senses of humor. You can stop laughing now, that wasn’t a joke.

   The important finding wasn’t just that men and women have different tastes in humor — think The Three Stooges vs. The Family Circus — but rather that women actually enjoy a good joke more than men. And no, that comment you just made about it being because women get the joke more often than men wasn’t the least bit funny. Not one bit.

   The reports didn’t say how the researchers decided what constitutes a good joke, but apparently they have their well documented academic methods which I suspect involve a copy of Reader’s Digest they swiped from the dentist’s office. Sure it was the August 1987 issue, but if humor was the best medicine then it’s probably still the best now. Well, as long as no one’s started genetically manipulating jokes to improve them, in which case Frankenjokes would be the best medicine now, though generic ones can safely be substituted if your HMO won’t pay for the good stuff.


Another way to look at it is that women think jokes are funnier because they have lower expectations than men, which probably helps explain how women manage to put up with guys in the first place.
   The point is, no matter what the joke, women will enjoy it more than men. This is, the researchers say, because women don't always expect a joke to be funny. When a man hears the words “A rabbi walked into a bar with a duck on one shoulder and a priest on the other” he’s immediately prepared to laugh. He’ll sometimes even consider waiting until the end of the joke. A woman, on the other hand, takes a wait-and-see approach. She wants proof, as in, say, a funny punch line. And women wonder why men think they can be hard to please.

   The researchers explained that women are more analytical in their response, weighing the humor pros and cons, parsing the punch line, and diagramming the setup. Sounds like a lot of work to me. It makes sense that after all the time, energy, and work they’ve invested they’d feel more pleasure should they decide something really is funny. In other words, men are easy.

   Another way to look at it is that women think jokes are funnier because they have lower expectations than men, which probably helps explain how women manage to put up with guys in the first place. Not that I’m complaining. Hey, there’s nothing like having low expectations to make me look good.


We expect the weather forecast to be accurate, free weights to be free, and airplane seats to be comfortable no matter how many times we’ve flown and know otherwise. 
   Low expectations aren’t a bad thing. In fact, they can be very good. There’s little question life can be easier to get through if you don’t expect much out of it in the first place. But the truth is, as humans we have high expectations. We expect that year after year we’ll be more successful, make more money, and prove Einstein wrong by somehow finding more time in the day. We expect good customer service, high quality products, and fair wages for workers. We also expect low, low prices. We expect to find our soul mate, and hope to hell it’s the person we married. We expect our leaders will do the right thing. And tell the truth. Okay, so there are times when we really should lower our expectations, but please, try not to do it during a presidential election.

   We expect a movie sequel to be as good as the original, even though it’s never happened. That’s because if we’re nothing, we’re optimistic. At least we are when it comes to what we hope to get in return for our $9.50 ticket, $8 tub-o-popcorn, and $5 gallon of Diet Coke. We expect a product that comes in a package which screams “New and Improved” to be, well, new and improved. Or at least to contain an explanation for why they promoted an inferior product as the best money can buy for so many years. And we expect the holiday season to be about love, friendship, and spirituality, not rampant commercialism. Okay, I’m just kidding about this one. There are some things no one in their right mind could possibly expect.

   We expect the weather forecast to be accurate, free weights to be free, and airplane seats to be comfortable no matter how many times we’ve flown and know otherwise. We expect product claims that arrive by email to be true, vacations to be relaxing, and of course if you’re a guy, you expect a joke to be funny. Come to think of it, maybe it would be a good idea if we all took a tip from women and lowered our expectations, analyzed things deeper, and worried about whether our clothes make us look fat. Now that’s funny.

©2005 Mad Dog Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
These columns appear in better newspapers across the country. Read them with low expectations.

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