Is Any Topic Too Serious to Joke About?

My husband and I are the same. We tend to have dry, dark senses of humor and I think some days I tend to be a bit of a misanthrope. If you can't see the humor in many different things, more's the pity.

I'm right there with you!! There are things I wouldn't DARE say in public, but to the people who know my seriously warped sense of humor, I let 'er fly ;)

When I was pregnant I used to walk around the house shaking my belly and doing bad impressions of belly dancing while yelling "shaken baby syndrome!" Apparently, my husband found this very offensive even though I thought it was hilarious. Clearly I would never really shake a baby and nothing was going to happen while the baby was still in the womb, but I guess it was in bad taste. I guess you have to know your audience cause some of my girlfriends thought it was funny. :P

Us too, S., excessively. Without humor, how would we all cope?

:)

You're not alone. My husband and I can, at times have a very dark, wicked, sense of humor that is best left within the confines of our own home and out of hearing range of our children.

Amelia V. - shaken baby?!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Not sure if you read The Onion online, but there is a very funny clip about a 'baby shaking' exercise ball. Of course, not everyone will find it funny but I did and I bet you would too!

http://www.theonion.com/video/new-babysafe-ball-makes-sha...

Oh me and my husband are BAD and I mean BAD
Like others have said, in public we "behave"
But at home..NO way. Oh and once the kids are in bed its ON
People see my husband and me messing with each other and think that we are being abusive. haha When in fact we just LOVE giving each other a hard time.
When my baby is being cranky, I jokingly say to my husband "you're supposed to shake the S$%& out of them to get them to stop crying right??"
Husbands response "I think I heard that somewhere. Ya that sounds right"

Obviously it's a JOKE
We are very VERY sarcastic people. Most of the time, it takes A LOT to offend me or my husband. Our friends know this, so most of the time we probably all seem very mean to each other lol

With my husband and my best friend of 20 yrs., I freely let my humor fly. I learned along time ago other people don't always get my sense of humor (which is mainly stating the obvious in not such a nice way) and didn't take it the way I intended.

That's why it's SO important to have a spouse you can share these things with. You should have someone with whom you can discuss anything. But once you get outside your marriage, the taboo list is endless.
As far as taboo topics go - it's easier to list the acceptable ones - weather and traffic. They are fairly 'safe' in all settings.
Dangerous topics (to joke about) include (but are not limited to) - politics, religion, race, money, immigration, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, special needs people, diseases, vaccines, circumcision, unions, homosexuals, organ donation, abortion, etc - the list goes on and on.
In very many ways we are so much more closed minded than we were in the 70's. I saw an old re-run of All in the Family the other day and I had to admit there are few shows today that are that gutsy. (Although I sometimes think Archie Bunker has somehow been reincarnated and come back as Rush Limbaugh.)

We do the SAME thing and I was just telling my husband that we need to be 100% sure the kids do not hear us. They are still too young to understand our humor and the topics we discuss. We are quite good about making sure we are alone when we "joke". My husband and I just have a similar sense of "sick" humor, I guess. So, no, you are not the only ones.

With regard to topics that are unable to be joked about, I am sure there are topics all over the board with others, but not with hubby and I. Nothing is off limits with us. I love it that way.

Amelia - I laughed SO HARD at your post!

Anything that the other is insecure about is off limits. I.E., my weight, and my husband's man-boobs.

We do the same thing, but we are also very careful not to do it in front of our children. We love to watch shows like Tosh.0 and Chelsey Lately and our jokes are usually along those lines.

Previous posters are right about making sure your kids are not listening in when your joking about some of those topics. Kids here things but only hear the words and not what is really being conveyed. My daughter was 7 when I was pregnant with my second son Hubby and I had made due without me buying many maternity clothing with the 1st son. with the second son we were doing better and I wanted to get a couple of maternity things. the most important of those things was some maternity underwear. I was so sick of just rolling the band down under my tummy. So at dinner at my in laws when my mother in law asked how I was feeling my daughter spoke up loudly and announced to all that mommy was sad and cried cause daddy won't let her wear underwear I was embarrassed . my husband was pissed and my in laws were absolutely horrified. on the upside my mother in law took me shopping and got me underwear lol.

joking family, most especially, my kids getting sick, hurt or dying is way too serious to even play around about.
Except for Ameilas Shaken Baby Bellydance, that is funny, I don't care who you are!

Between me, my husband, my daughter, and her fiance, pretty much anything is fair game. When other people are present, we take the thickness or thinness of their skins into account.

So the other day at my daughter's soccer game we see a female baseball team. My husband chuckles and says, "Girls playing baseball??!!" Of course I know he's totally kidding and has no leg to stand on. Although very strong and in pretty good shape, he can't throw a ball for sh**. I know more about sports than he does.
So why the joke? Because he likes to see me roll my eyes and giggle at what utter nonesense he's spouting. He's very dry humored and witty. But I also worry about what our kids will hear. "girls playing baseball" is not the type of attitude I want him to pass along to our daughter or son. So I guess we'd better curb that stuff, eh?
Other than that, the only thing we don't joke about is my child-bearing hips. That is an unspoken rule. Everything else is up for grabs.

First of all, I nearly blew water out my nose when I read Jenny C's post. Very funny:)
Yes, we joke about stuff that we would never joke about in front of the kids or with other adults. It doesn't get too bad, because, well, we aren't that witty. But, I think we are both pretty liberal, so we accept a lot of what's out there. My hubby is republican- but a fairly liberal one. I'm democrat. He and I love to talk politics. We can realize when we need to "agree to disagree". I don't mind doing that in front of the kids because I think it's good for them to see our differences of opinion, and still be able to love each other and walk away from the conversation after a hug and all's well. *They don't see me pinch him in the arm later. LOL! kidding.
My brother and his wife, on the other hand, are really bad. Maaaannn...I find them hysterical. They don't filter well, so my kids have on occasion been privy to the jokes. I would love to think most of it goes over their heads, but you never know. It doesn't happen a lot, but sometimes. I don't think there's anything that's taboo with them. For hubby and I, I don't recall a subject we've decided is off limits. Maybe we just haven't ventured far enough "out there". ;)

You guys sound JUST like my husband and I. He has the craziest jokes ever, and I completely enjoy (almost all of) them. I know some people can be offended or shocked, but I just think they need to lighten up. Also, I think its a very honest trait to be able to speak irreverantly about things. My husband is also a very talented musician, so lucky for him he brings VERY taboo subject to song in a most funny and creative way, and has a lot of recordings (he does "regular' songs, too)... He has so much fun with this. He can do voices, in a variety of, ahem, dialects very accurately. SUPER funny. We also have fun with stereotypes. I totally don't find it offensive simply because I know we aren't prejudice- and besides, we make fun of ourselves the most.

But yes, not in front of the four kids... I even worry about when they hear these songs when they get to be adults. They'll be shocked. LOL!

But it's all in fun. It's great to make light of things at the right time. Doesn't mean that I don't take things seriously when need-be- I very much do.

You're in good company, naughty lady :-) Us too. We definitely have to watch it in front of kids... they would repeat anything! My whole family has a pretty warped sense of humor. I would NEVER write down on this site some of our jokes...

Hey, joke all you want. But, I will tell you to be careful, especially if you have kids. My son came home from Kindergarten a few years ago and told me that his class was learning about the upcoming election. He said that a boy in his class raised his hand and said, "my parents said a black man will never run this country."
Hmmmm....made me sad to see that there are still racists out there.
You can joke about whatever you want. But, if your kids repeat what you say out in public will it hurt or offend someone? That's all.
L.

My husband and I do the same exact thing. We would never joke about these things in front of other people or in front of the kids. It is all in good fun.

it depends on the company. If your children are in earshot and you are joking about overweight people, people of a different race, people getting killed, or victimized in some way then the jokes should probably be saved for later. You don't want the kids taking that stuff to school with them. But if it is all in fun and humor, then it is your decision. If it is mean humor or derogatory humor, it is still your decision. But I hope it is light humor and not meant to be mean spirited. ;)

I believe what any adults talk about in private, out of ear shot of young children is their prerogative. Yes, children hear everything, even when you believe they are not listening, and because of their youth and inexperience, they can almost always take something out of context and run wild with it and God forbid, repeat it to the very person you don't want to have it repeated to. Also consider that even when not joking, someone can take something innocently said and be offended. I'm Polish. I made a comment about being Polish in front of my step brother's girlfriend, now his wife many years ago. She shot me an ugly look and rebuked what I had said, because not only is she Polish, but I she thought I was poking fun at Polish people, when in fact, she didn't realize that I am Polish too. Something seemingly so trivial can be so offensive to others. I guess it just pays to know the company you are with before saying something because you never know how others around will respond. But if you and only your husband are having the discussion, then what the two of you talk about in private is totally your business.

I tell blond jokes sometimes just because they are sooo funny. I have a blond daughter and some blonde friends. I'm Polish too and yes some Polish jokes are funny--they are actually the same as blond jokes.
I personally don't like slurs against gays, blacks or hispanic groups simply because I accept them as equals.