Once upon a time, there was a couple. They already had kids, so whenever they wanted to have sex, they used a codeword, "Laundry," to hide it from the kids.
During a long weekend, the couple had some fights, and they weren't talking to each other. The other night, the husband was horny, so he asked their son to tell the wife, "Dad thinks it's time to do the laundry tonight after we go to bed." However, the wife told the son to reply to his dad, "Mommy said the washing machine is broken." So, they didn't do the laundry that night.
Two days later, it was the wife's turn to be horny. She told the son to pass the message, "The washing machine is good now, we can do the laundry tonight." After a moment, the son came back to his mom and said, "Daddy said he hand-washed the clothes last night."
Joke Poo: The Wi-Fi Password
Once upon a time, there was a retired couple, Mildred and George. They were hopelessly addicted to streaming TV, but also terrible with technology. So, whenever they wanted to binge-watch shows uninterrupted, they used a codeword, "Wi-Fi Password," to signal to each other that they were dedicating the next few hours to uninterrupted viewing.
One afternoon, Mildred was in a foul mood and had been sniping at George all day. That evening, George, desperate for some escapism, asked their visiting granddaughter, "Please tell Grandma that Grandad thinks it’s time to change the Wi-Fi password to ‘NetflixAndChill’ tonight." However, Mildred told the granddaughter to reply to her grandad, "Tell him the Wi-Fi router’s been overloaded." So, they didn’t change the Wi-Fi password that night.
Two days later, Mildred had finished her book and was ready for some quality screen time. She told the granddaughter to pass the message, "The router’s been rebooted, we can change the Wi-Fi password tonight." After a moment, the granddaughter came back to her grandmother and said, "Grandad says he’s found a new provider with a faster, free connection."
Okay, let’s break down this joke and spin it into something new.
Joke Dissection:
- Core Concept: Using "laundry" as a euphemism for sex to hide it from the children.
- Humor Mechanism: Situational irony and miscommunication. The humor comes from the coded messages being intercepted and interpreted, leading to increasingly absurd and suggestive responses.
- Key Elements:
- The Code Word: "Laundry"
- The Intermediary: The son
- The Washing Machine: Represents sexual functionality/willingness
- Hand-Washing: Implies self-satisfaction/masturbation.
- The generational gap: The child acts as the interpreter
Factual/Interesting Tidbits that can be used
- The history of the washing machine: An innovation to reduce labor (historically female’s labor)
- Laundry chemicals that are named using sexual innuendo
New Humor Piece (Witty Observation):
You know, it’s funny how "laundry" became a popular euphemism. Back in the day, doing laundry was a whole thing. Imagine explaining that to the kids: "Mommy and Daddy are going to spend hours wrestling with hot water, harsh chemicals, and a machine that sounds like it’s trying to escape… don’t worry, it’s just laundry." Maybe the real code should have been "taxes." Nobody wants to talk about those with the kids!
New Joke:
A couple used "accounting" as their codeword for intimacy. One night, the wife was feeling romantic and told their daughter, "Tell your father I’ve balanced the books, and I’m ready for an audit."
The daughter returned a few minutes later. "Dad said he’s already filed an extension."
Why this works:
- Uses the same "code word" structure.
- "Accounting" provides fertile ground for euphemisms related to sex and intimacy (audit, balanced, extension, etc.).
- It maintains the element of implied action and humorous avoidance.
- It leverages the inherent anxieties and boredom associated with accounting to amplify the humor.
This exercise has demonstrated that we can extract the underlying mechanism from an existing joke and use related information to create fresh and interesting humor.