That's What She Said - The Healing Power of Innuendo

[WARNING: This blog post contains crude humor… and an explicit photograph of a root vegetable.]

Have you ever had one of those friends that can take anything, and I mean anything, and find within it a sexual, juvenile or just plain silly undertone? Perhaps you are that friend. If you're a friend of mine, this pretty much applies to all of you.  Example:

You:    Do you know of a coffee shop I can get to easily?

Me:      Yeah, there's one on Main Street. It's easy in, easy out.

You:    That's what she said. *snicker*

Sadly, I have more conversations like this than I care to count. There are those times when I really am trying to be serious, but there are other times when the innuendo, well, it just comes out.

(That's what she said. *gigglesnort*)

STOP THAT!!! See? See how easy it is? [Don't. Say. It.] I jest, of course, because frankly I wouldn't want it any other way. The sharing of juvenile innuendo has, for better or worse, become a major component of our personal relationships. For many of us, it represents a closeness, a bond between us.

(hehe. Bondage…)

*grimaces menacingly*

(Sorry.)

No you're not. And that's ok. The fact that we're able to exchange that kind of frivolous, sexually charged banter without fear or repercussion, rejection or regret is indicative of a friendship built on confidence and camaraderie, one in which you've reached a level of comfort that filters are no longer needed Those are good, true friendships.

Why do I bring this up, you ask?

(What did you bring 'up' exactly? *giggle giggle*)

NOT THAT! *sigh* focus people. I raise this subject because even now as I type this I am looking at a Cheeto. Not just any Cheeto, mind you, but one that has a strong resemblance to a certain portion of the male anatomy, placed on my desk by another for that very reason. Why? Because we're twelve, apparently, and it's funny.

(It's a little weird, too. Just sayin'…)

I know. But so what? If it's a joke shared between friends, and one that makes us both laugh, who cares? What business is it of yours if my adolescently-minded friends find juvenile, sexually-charged humor funny?

(Well, you did bring it up here, so….)

I… touché. But still. In this age of political correctness, why is it so frowned upon to find humor with a little innuendo? I mean, if you ask someone "are you coming?" and they reply, indignantly, "I'm not even breathing hard yet," I dare you not to chuckle. It's stupid. It's juvenile. But it's funny.

There are all kinds of memes circulating the internets that are directly on point, one of which I find particularly poignant:

"You find it inappropriate. I find it funny. That's why I'm happier than you."

We all need a little inappropriateness in our lives. If we don't have that, think of how boring life would be. Let's try an experiment. What do you see in the picture below?

If, instead of giggling uncontrollably, your first instinct was to answer "ginger root," well, we need to get you out more. Yes, as we've already discussed, this is silly. Stupid? Of course. Juvenile, even? Most definitely. But if I sent this picture to ten friends of mine, all ten of them would respond with something along the lines of "LOL" or "LMAO" or "where are you shopping, and do they have any more?" Because like me, they are able to recognize the need to be a little silly, stupid and/or juvenile once in a while. Now, I'm not saying that you need to go out purposely looking for representations of maleness wherever you go, but if the situation arises, let the laughter out. It's healthy.

(Maleness… arises… bwaaa haaaa haaaa!)

See how easy that was?  Here, let's try another one:

If your first reaction to seeing this is something other than "I want that on a T-shirt," just go back to reading [insert boring book title here] and make sure you don't spill your Earl Grey on your doily. 

The point is, there is innuendo and unintentional comedy everywhere you go. Forget stopping to sniff the roses. Stop to notice the silly. In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Seriously. Take a look around. I'm sure that wherever you are, you can find something, anything, of or with which you can create some kind of inappropriate humor to make yourself laugh. Go on, go ahead. Try it. You'll like it. It's not that hard.

(That's what she said.)

Now you're getting it….

© J.J. Goodman 2013. All rights reserved.