but then they want to fight when you try to put them in the trunk.
Okay, here’s my attempt at a “Joke Poo” version of the “Every Girl Likes to be Swept Off Her Feet” joke, titled “Bird Poop”:
Bird Poop
Every car likes to be “swept off” with bird poop…
…but then they get mad when you try to hose it off with high pressure.
Alright, let’s dissect this joke and see what comedic gold we can extract and refine.
Joke Breakdown:
- Setup: “Every Girl Likes to be Swept Off Her Feet…” – This establishes a common romantic trope.
- Punchline: “…but then they want to fight when you try to put them in the trunk.” – This creates a jarring and darkly humorous twist by subverting the romantic expectation with a scenario that suggests kidnapping.
- Key Elements:
- Romantic Trope: The idealized “sweeping off their feet” courtship.
- Subversion/Juxtaposition: Contrasting the romantic ideal with the violent image of being put in a trunk.
- Misunderstanding/Ambiguity: The humor comes from the jarring leap and the implied misinterpretation of the phrase “swept off their feet.”
Factual and Interesting Tidbits:
- “Swept Off Their Feet” Origin: The phrase likely originates from medieval romantic literature, where knights would literally scoop damsels onto their horses for daring rescues (or occasionally, less savory abductions).
- Trunk Space: The average car trunk has about 13-15 cubic feet of space. Big enough for some luggage…and other things cough (Let’s not dwell here!).
- “Fight or Flight”: The natural human response to being threatened (like being put in a trunk) is to either fight back or flee. Hence, the “fighting” in the punchline is a logical, albeit humorous, reaction.
- Romance Novel Statistics: Romance novels account for roughly 1/3 of all fiction books sold in the US. This underscores the cultural prevalence and saturation of romantic tropes, which makes the subversion in the joke even more impactful.
New Humorous Creation (A Witty Observation):
“You know, ‘sweeping someone off their feet’ is just a polite way of saying ‘imposing enough force to negate their free will.’ History is full of examples where the ‘sweep’ was quite literal, and the ‘feet’ ended up dangling from a saddle. Modern romance has just learned to be a little more subtle… until the trunk gets involved, apparently.”
New Humorous Creation (A ‘Did You Know’ Fact):
“Did you know that the etymological link between ‘romance’ and ‘kidnapping’ is actually surprisingly thin? One involves flowers and slow dances; the other involves duct tape and a suspiciously large trunk. Though, I suppose both involve a significant level of… commitment.”
New Humorous Creation (A Modified Joke):
“Every girl likes to be swept off her feet… until you try to upgrade her GPS and the destination is ‘Undisclosed Location’.”
Explanation of how it relates to the original joke:
- The new creations maintain the original joke’s core concept of subverting romantic expectations with a darker, more disturbing element.
- They expand on the inherent absurdity by incorporating real-world facts and observations about romance, violence, and human behavior.
- The witty observations highlight the underlying power dynamics within romantic tropes, making the humor more thought-provoking.
- The modified joke changes only the punchline, whilst retaining the same jarring juxtaposition of romance and sinister undertones.