A Poor Joke

By Phillip Hines 

Country comedian Jerry Clower told this story of a lady he once knew in Amite County, Mississippi.  

She lived near a construction site, and workers were putting a tar roof on a building near her house.  

This lady had 16 children, and one day she lost one of them. She began hunting for him and discovered he had fallen into a 50-gallon drum of black roofing tar at the construction site.   

She reached down, hauled him up, looked at him, and shoved him back down in the drum of tar. She said, “Boy, it would be a lot easier to have another one than to clean you up!” 

A husband and wife were driving through Louisiana. As they approached Natchitoches, they started arguing about the pronunciation of the town. They argued back and forth, so when they stopped for lunch the husband asked the waitress, “Before we order, could you please settle an argument for us? Would you please pronounce where we are, very slowly?”  

She leaned over the counter and said, “Burrr-gerrr Kiiing.” 

Most of us like good jokes and enjoy telling them – and there is nothing wrong with a “good” joke; a good sense of humor is especially important in life.   

The wise man said in Proverbs 17:22, A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.” Solomon would also say in Ecclesiastes 3:4, there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.   

However, Paul reminds us in Ephesians 5:4 to speak neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.”   

He also said in Ephesians 4:29, Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 

Years ago, I read a little article about telling jokes that I thought was excellent. It listed several circumstances in which a joke would be out of place. The author is unknown to me.   

It goes like this: 

“When someone blushes with embarrassment, 

When some heart carries away an ache, 

When something sacred is made to appear common, 

When somebody’s weakness provides the laughter, 

When profanity is required to make it funny, 

When a child is brought to tears, or 

When everyone cannot join in the laughter – 

Then … it is a poor joke!”  

At a Glance

PowerGrid Services in Hartselle evacuated for bomb threat

Morgan County

20 under 40: Trey Chowning

Falkville

20 under 40: TJ Holmes

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Spencer Bell

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Shelby Keenum

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Rachel Howard

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Mary Virgina Halbrooks

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Maggie McKelvey

Decatur

20 under 40: Maegan Jones

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Lindsey Tapscott

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

‘He lets us have sex’: More details emerge on Hartselle man accused of child exploitation 

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

Hartselle church creates Easter-themed escape rooms 

Danville

Family tradition: State livestock show legacy spans generations

Editor's picks

Baseball for Beau: More than $8k raised for scholarship named after Hartselle child  

Falkville

20 under 40: Lela Weeks

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Kalleigh Thomas

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Jaime Hatcher

Hartselle

Veteran Hartselle firefighter charged with possessing child porn

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

Cerrowire expansion named finalist in Business Alabama Awards  

At a Glance

Work begins on repairing two bridges over I-65 in Morgan County in coming weeks

At a Glance

Tickets for Morgan County Sports Hall of Fame banquet available

Falkville

Morgan County volunteers celebrated at annual fire department banquet 

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

Man jailed for stealing car from jail after earlier release 

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

Police: Hartselle man encouraged children to have sex inside his apartment

x