What’s the most important secondary characteristic a person can have?
If you figure that primary characteristics would include honor, honesty, compassion and a lack of self-centeredness among other things, I think I would put a sense of humor high up on the secondary list.
More than half a century ago, I had two male friends with wonderful senses of humor. It was a time in one friend’s life when he had learned a few offbeat sexual terms, and as an English major, he threw out this line:
“Jim thinks anilingus is a new language.”
Jim responded quickly.
“Only with you, Brian.”
We all laughed, although many years later, Brian (not his real name) said I was the one who said the first line.I said that wasn’t true. if it were, my setup would have been different.
“Jim thinks anilingus is the Irish national airline.”
Strangely enough, nearly 40 years later, I became the first person I knew to fly that particular airline when I traveled from London Gatwick to Nice, France.
Still, Jim and Brian (not their real names) once had wonderful senses of humor, but like many of us on the far side of 70, they take many things much more seriously than they once did.
There was a comment on Crooks & Liars about Homeland Security Secretary Kristiv Noem’s press conference in Texas Saturday about the horrific flooding near Kerrville. Noem, aka America’s Canine Assassin, blamed the deat toll on former president Joe Biden, even though it was Trump’s administration that slashed the National Weather Service’s forecasting budget.
Since I nearly always go for the easy laugh, I wrote that when the conference was finished, Noem went to the local animal shelter and killed all the dogs to let off steam.
One of my old friends commented. “Don’t be an a-hole, There is nothing at all funny about your comment.”
My only complaint about his reply was use of the term “a-hole” inside of “asshole.” I would have gone a different route. I have been embracing my English ancestry in my old age and probably would have used “arsehole.”
I did appreciate the fact that my good friend Steve, who lives in the U.K., commented as well. Steve (which is his real name), is someone I will probably ever actually meet — hey, I’m 75 — but I like him a lot. Here’s what he said:
“I thought it was very funny by most stretches of the imagination.”
Of course it was, and Jim would have laughed if it was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez instead of Noem.
So would I, if it were true.