Why YSK: it doesn’t matter how original you might think you are, they have heard them before. Numerous times in fact. If you’re in the habit of making name-based jokes as soon as you meet someone you should stop. At best you’re mildly annoying the person, at worst you’re preventing what could have been a great friendship before it even begins.
Sincerely: someone named Jesse. (And yes - I know you wish you had my girl, also … Springsteen, really?)
Name-based jokes should definitely die. Especially if it’s from people you just met!
However, they are still above ethnicity-, body-, gender-based comedy for basically the same reasons.
Agreed, I was being a bit melodramatic about them.
I get you, though. A mailman once made a completely inappropriate joke about my last name that I already had heard so many times and I was just dumbstruck. He was so excited and gaudy to let me in on it. I’m sure he thought I wouldn’t know that one. Hopefully he could see the life leave my body, when I monotonously answered “never heard that one before” and remembers that the next time he thinks of a joke about the name of a customer.
Had that same experience at work, and with someone who had just been hired and was being introduced to me for the first time. It wasn’t inappropriate but I’d heard it at least three times that week alone. She didn’t last terribly long in the office.