Tombstone Humor

[cateyes1]

Once upon a time there was a young Norwegian couple who immigrated here from - Norway, of course.  They had a difficult time learning English, and even more understanding certain words and terms.  They also did not fully grasp some of our humor.

 

They had several children, with regular Norwegian names such as Lena, Ole, Sven, Gunnar,and so forth.  But the children all had problems with other children teasing them, so when they had one more son, not wanting to curse him with a Norwegian name which would also haunt him, they named him Odd.

 

Well, you can imagine the ribbings he took!  Jokes about his name that he understood, and jokes he did not.  Combined with a strong Norwegian accent, because his parents still spoke with an accent, and spoke mostly Norwegian in their home, he had a very difficult time.

 

During his school years he had problems, was often involved in fighting and other issues.  Sometimes the teachers and administrators sided with Odd, sometimes with his classmates.  However, he did make it thru grade school, junior and high school with pretty good grades. 

 

He graduated, and joined the military hoping things would be different there.  Of course they were not.  More fights.  More problems with his platoon members, his CEO's, and others of higher rank.  However, he did manage to distinguish himself and left the military with an "honorable" discharge.

 

Then a job, and more problems, more fights with co-workers.  Problems with his boss, who did have some sympathy because of his name, and because he did good work.

 

One day Odd met a beautiful lady who was not put off by his name.  Eventually they married and started a family.  They named their children, Tom, Bill, Sue, Kay, and other good "American" names.

 

One day Odd realized he was getting old.  He called his children home and talked about his wishes for his death and funeral, and his final resting place.

 

He said, "Vell you know I haf had a lot of problems wit my name all my life.  Fen I die I yust vant da dates of my birt and my death on my tombstone."  They debated that, and tried to change his mind, to no avail.  They understood how he felt, and eventually agreed.

 

One day Odd died, and the family kept their promise to him.  On his tombstone they put only the dates of his birth and death.  Nothing else.

 

Don't you suppose to this very day when people visit the cemetary to find tombstones of family and to look for unusual tombstones they see this one with nothing but dates.  They look at the tombstone, then at each other.

 

 

 

They look at the tombstone again, then each other again, and say, "Isn't that odd?"   



                                BAZINGA