Homer and Me

I think Homer Simpson once said something like "Oh, a joke. I get jokes." I felt just like him as I listened to a flight attendant crack wise on my flight from Chicago to Las Vegas. I know you're supposed to just go with jokes and not deconstruct or over-analyze them, but this jokester offered two quips that struck me as totally weird and not funny at all, despite the appreciative chuckles they prompted on my crowded plane.

First, during that part of the safety info where they tell you you can't smoke in the "lavatory," our comedian informed us that if we broke this rule, we would be subject to a fine in the amount of "one or two thousand dollars, and if you had that kind of money, you'd be flying United." Huh? I get the implied jab at United for being more expensive, but the implication that no one who could afford a pricier alternative would ever fly Southwest is a bizarre and inapt admission against interest.

Then, when we landed she announced, "We would like to welcome you to Hawaii. [Pause for dramatic effect.] But since we can't do that, we'll welcome you to Las Vegas instead." This one might have been funny in a rueful sort of way, I suppose, if the options were Hawaii and Baghdad. But with Hawaii and Las Vegas, it just seemed peculiar.

So why was everyone around me chuckling?