Sometimes my jokes backfire

Three stories on that theme:

1. On Tuesday, some of us talked about special interest groups that try to get commercials banned at work, and segued into how one of them sees sexual images in some animated Disney movies. Really ridiculous stuff. I joked, "You know, I was gonna rent 'Frisky Firemen Volume Four' tonight, but I'll get me a Disney movie instead." They laughed.

Today--I swear!--one of the women approached me and whispered, "That 'Frisky Firemen' movie you were telling me about, where did you get it? 'Cause I've looked, and I haven't seen any of them." I had to confess that I made the title up off the top of my head and I don't watch that kind of movie....

2. My brother's young, his wife's *real* young--24 today and just turned 20, respectively--so our relatives were giving them funny looks at the family reunions this summer. "Do they think it was a shotgun wedding or something?" my SIL exclaimed. I joked--JOKED--that we should call her "Shotgun" as a nickname in front of the relatives we hadn't seen in forever. We all had a good laugh. Now the Dorkfish *is* calling her "Shotgun" (even though if anyone was almost "shotgunned" into the marriage, it was *her*), and it turned out he called her "Shotgun" at the second family reunion! I found this out last night when my cousin in Michigan, who I just got re-acquainted with, wanted to know, "Exactly why did those two get married? He kept calling her 'Shotgun'..."

3. Dorkfish reminded me of this one when I called him up to tell him about that. A couple years ago, my grandfather was in the nursing home. He'd just been put in there; he was dying and losing his grip, and he couldn't take care of himself. He *hated* that he had to ask the nurse for a cigarette and a light and then go to a designated area to smoke. His poor life was revolving around getting to smoke. So I *jokingly* suggested that he try dipping. His eyes lit up brighter than any of us had seen in ages, and I could've slapped myself. (My mom *did* thump me on the back of my head.) Guess what he had next visit? A can of Skoal, in his nightstand drawer!

I swear, next time I have a good idea that's actually worth listening to, I'm going to frame it as a joke. That way it'll be taken seriously and accomplished!