Age-ism or humour?

Windy, isn't it? No, it's Thursday

Boomer 'hoomer' may be the best medicine for dealing with

something that isn't always funny

William Hanley

Financial Post

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Three old guys are out for walk. The first one says, "Windy, isn't it?

" The second one says, "No, it's Thursday!" The third one says, "So

am I. Let's go get a beer."

Whether you think this joke is humorous depends on the tuning

of your funny bone. But whether you think it's funny or not, it's just

one joke in a genre that's growing in popularity.

Jokes about the various physical and mental vicissitudes of ageing,

always popular funny fodder, are in robust good health, with

numbers booming along with the ageing population and the spread

of the Internet.

Naturally enough, it's one of the phenomena associated with Baby

Boomers. The biggest and loudest generation is letting everyone else

know it is getting older, but is able to laugh at itself and the

impending foibles of old age. (If you google "humour" and "ageing" you'll
get

220,000 hits! You could grow old -- or die laughing -- scrolling through
this

stuff.) Just call it Boomer hoomer.

Of course, there are millions of folks in Canada already in old age, which
many

authorities on ageing define as over 65. (Some people who are over 65 and

take little notice of their chronological age will find that definition
decidedly

unfunny. In fact, it is funny that a recent survey showed people turning 60

believed old age to be over 80.)

The "three-old-guys" joke, which I happen to think is funny, was e-mailed to

me by an old acquaintance who is a fount of jokes about oldsters, He's a 61-

year-old who delights in passing along stories about old people and such

sidesplitting conditions as incontinence, impotence, memory loss, death and

bereavement.

Indeed, some people do think jokes about such painful, sensitive issues are
no

laughing matter, especially when they and their loved ones encounter such

conditions.

One reader railed in an e-mail about the callousness of some Boomer hoomer

satire in the pages of FP Weekend last fall, warning that they, too, will
find lying

ill on a hospital bed in an ailing health system very unfunny.

But is this growing wave of humour about ageing actually ageist? Are we
poking

fun at people who are suffering? Are the elderly the *** of cruel jokes?

Not at all. For one, such humour has always been around, with oldsters the
main

tellers of jokes about the "joys" of ageing. Secondly, laughter can be good

medicine, a smile an umbrella.

Elaine Dembe, a Toronto-based chiropractor and author of two books that

address the issue of healthy ageing, Passionate Longevity: The 10 Secrets To

Growing Younger and Use The Good Dishes: Finding Joy In Everyday Life, calls

laughter "inner jogging."

"I always appreciate a good joke even if it makes fun of the ageing
process,"

she says. "To those who get offended when humour involves the ageing
process,

I say: 'Get over it.' They are too serious. Keep laughing and spring is just

around the corner."

Spring may be just around the corner, but for millions of Canadians, so is
old

age. For some, that might not be a particularly appetizing prospect. Yet, to

repeat a phrase that might become ironic little bon mots in the coming age,

growing old sure beats the alternative. Meantime, it doesn't help to get too

analytical about humour, whether it's Boomer hoomer or off-the-wall stuff on

Comedy Central.

What one person finds funny, another might not. One person's sense of
humour,

like most things in life, does not fit all. But I hope to leave you
laughing -- or at

least smiling -- with this joke, courtesy of my old acquaintance:

A couple in their 80s are both having problems remembering things. So, they

decide to go to the doctor for a checkup. The doctor tells them they're

physically OK, but they might want to start writing things down to help them

remember.

Later that night, while watching TV, the man gets up from his chair. His
wife

asks, "Where are you going?" "To the kitchen," he replies. "Will you get me
a

bowl of ice cream?" she asks. "Sure." "Don't you think you should write it
down

so you can remember it?" she presses. "No, I can remember it." "Well, I'd
like

some strawberries on top, too. You'd better write it down because you know

you'll forget it." He says: "I can remember that! You want a bowl of ice
cream

with strawberries." "I'd also like whipped cream. I'm certain you'll forget
that, so

you'd better write it down!" she retorts.

Irritated, he says: "I don't need to write it down, I can remember it! Leave
me

alone! Ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream -- I got it, for
goodness

sake!"

Then he grumbles off into the kitchen. After about 20 minutes he returns
from

the kitchen and hands his wife a plate of bacon and eggs. She stares at the

plate for a moment and says: "Where's my toast?"

whanley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

© National Post 2007


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