| I have this friend. We've been friends for years. He's hung out with
me, and had my dog and a couple of our mutual friends climb onto him
(not into his lap-- just up his legs onto his chest, then onto his
shoulders, and then off onto the other side of the couch). For years,
his battle cry, and my battle cry on his behalf, was "I am not an
amusement park!".
The joke worked. Everybody laughed, everybody took the hint. Anyway,
several years after this, he and I moved in together; just right-time,
right-place, both-need-a-roommate kind of things. I had furniture,
kitchenware, and other good domestic stuff. He had some kick-ass
electronics gear and a pretty large collection of DVDs. Just one of
those roommate synergy type of things--our living space combined was
more than the sum of its parts.
Before we moved in together, he and I attended a number of different
social gatherings together. This continued after the move-in. One of
these gatherings took place at a friend's house, which happened to be
filled with pets and rug rats. My friend's battle cry, "I am not
an amusement park", issued forth on several occasions. This joke is
now several years old, and not the novelty it used to be. I decided
to spice it up a little.
"Yes you are, you're Six Flags Over Beldin's Couch!"
Personally, I think that was funny, and that it was playing along with
his initial joke, not turning it against him. He says that I have
made a joke at his expense, and that I am against him.
Some people just can't take a joke.
Either that, or I'm some jerk who doesn't know how to put himself in
others' shoes. The 'either that' is what makes it so hard to say "fuck
him if he can't take a joke".
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