Thread: I didn't understand the joke...

This one happened to be in the emailed spam. What is tricky about this joke? I ddin't understand.

On an out of town business trip, after a meeting in the afternoon and the obligatory dinner that evening with the client, I went to my hotel room, watched some late-night TV and turned in at about midnight. After tossing and turning for more than an hour I decided to give it up for a time and go down to the hotel bar for a drink. At that time of night - it was now close to 1:30 - the bar was almost deserted. As I slid otno a barootsl I noticed a loenly looking guy at the end of the bar just sitting, without a drink in front of him, just looking down at his hands. When the bartender roused himself, came over and asked, "What'll you have?" I replied, "Let me have a bourbon old fashion, and see what the guy at the end of the bar is drinking." When the drinks came, the man at the end of the bar raised his glass in a gesture of thanks and all was silent for a time. When I finished my drink I called to the bartender for another, adding, "But this time, leave out the fruit." The other guy stiffened, visibly angry, and shouted, "Screw you, mister! I didn't even want the first drink!"

P.S. Orphorgraphy and style are left as they were.

The way I read it, the other guy thought that he was being called "the fruit". When the first guy, the storyteler, said "leave out the fruit", he actually asked the barman to serve a straight bourbon, but the other guy understood it as a request to leave him out of the second round.

Yes, the other guy thought he was referring to him as "the fruit." If you call someone a fruit (or fruity), you are either saying they are homosexual, or just insane.
-Fantom

Homosexual?! Whew... Why 'fruit' is associated with this?

Let me think... We, in Russin, have the same word as in the phrase "вот так фрукт!" meaning a strange person, but nothing dirty.

The reason why a homesexual is colorfully referred to as a fruit, may be lost in the sands of time. However I would think of it like this.

A regular country guy is a meat and potatoes guy, because he needs a lot of "REAL FOOD" in order to supply his body with energy. Eating salad used to be a "woman's thing". Same thing with eating fruit. As it was looked upon (during the early part of the 20th century, ie: 1920's-1950's) as being insubstantial. Then somewhere in the (1980's?) the term "fruity" came to mean "wierd or strange". A crazy person could be said to be fruity or even a fruitcake. So, fruity does not necessarily mean being a homesexual, more like.. not being normal. Being strange or a person's head not being screwed on right. (yet another uniquely colorful American saying).

No, it doesn't necessarily mean homosexual, but it could... I think it has to do with the gay pride flag,

<img src = "http://catcode.com/oly_d500/sf98/flag02.jpg">

which is just a rainbow (colorful), or maybe because a "real man" orders a beer or whiskey, and a questionable man orders a fruity drink like a daquari, or a "girlie drink"

Has anyone seen the Kids in the Hall? They have a skit called "The Girly Drink Drunk". Very funny stuff...!

But yes, fruity just means not normal.

-Fantom

Yeah, in my mind, to be fruity is to just be whacko, crazy, lots their nuts.

Where I live, sunnyvale, there used to be alot of farms of fruits and nuts and other good stuff, so the bay area slogan was the valley of fruits and nuts. Then the internet boom turned the bay area to the silicon valley, and instead of farms we got massive technology companies and highly overpaid software engineers. But some people still find it befitting to call it the valley of fruits and nuts, just referring to people this time and not produce.

Originally Posted by fantom605

Has anyone seen the Kids in the Hall? They have a skit called "The Girly Drink Drunk". Very funny stuff...!

I remember that skit. Man, that was like a million years ago

I know, I want to buy the DVD's, but they are like $50 per season...
-Fantom

Rtyom, we can't tell you why "fruit" = homosexual any more than you can tell us why голубой = homosexual. And that's one-third of the colors of your national flag! Here fruit, there blue. Basically, wtf?

I explain to myself that голубой has been always associated with the colour of boys', as well as розовый with that one of girls'. Hence the meaning.

Anyway, thanks for trying to make all clear.

I am sorry, I just read the original post, and it has to be the lamest joke in the world. Even in the contest of lame jokes it would come in second - that's how lame it is.

Rtyom, there is nothing wrong with you for not getting it. It's

Oh God, the Blue Oyster Bar!

I can still hear the music playing as people unsuspectingly enter the bar and see all the guys with sunglasses and leather suspenders and hats...

Ooh, <a href = "http://www.chepo.net/mp3/boyster.mp3">here it is!</a>
<img src = "http://www.sporthoj.com/forum/customavatars/avatar6296_5.gif">

-Fantom

Originally Posted by ponzu

I tell а joke with a super long build-up and a punchline "I left my harp in Sam Frank's disco". By the time the audience hears the punchline, they are laughing because they realize that have been had- made to listen to such a ridiculously long story for such a lame punchline. But here you don't even get that.

I have heard something similar, it was about a man that gets insulted by a clown. He gets so mad, he goes to an "insult academy", where he graduates top of his class. Now, he's ready to utterly humiliate that clown, so he goes back to the circus, and when the clown comes up to him, he says "SHUT UP, CLOWN!!!!"

Now, imagine this joke taking 5 minutes to tell, and how much you hate the person that is telling it because they took 5 minutes of your life...
-Fantom

This is brilliant, fantom.

Originally Posted by ponzu

I am sorry, I just read the original post, and it has to be the lamest joke in the world. Even in the contest of lame jokes it would come in second - that's how lame it is.

It isn't THAT lame, there are lamer jokes around. Like this one:

Noah was bulding his ark when God suddenly said to him:
-You know how I told you to take two of each species with you on board?
-Yeah?
-Well forget it, load it up just with carp (a kind of fish).
- Carp? Why?
-So I can have the world's first multi-story carpark.

Right, well, okay, but I did say the initial joke would come in second. So maybe you've stumbled upon the champion.