Divisions and Precisions

A Day in the Life of an In Joke

The story's a familiar one. A conversation starts, funny things are said, and next thing you know you have an in-joke that's destined to last, well, for at least weeks if not months. Here, condensed from about eight hours' worth of MUSH log, I present the anatomy of an in-joke. I'm Cinderella, Laura is Paige, Brand is Haylon, Mo is Mo, and Lem, a.k.a. the Internet's Hot Soup, is Aiser, also known as the Instigator.

Aiser coughs. "Can I be painfully, horrifically blunt for a second?"

Aiser doesn't like balls. He doesn't want to be a eunich, however, but he still doesn't like 'em.

Cinderella falls over and laughs.

Cinderella says "As much as we womenfolk have bitched about our periods here, you're entitled to bitch about your balls."

Paige says "What's wrong with them?"

Paige says "Like, do they get sweaty or something?"

Aiser nods. "I mean like, they just hang there. In the way. And get all bunched up in undies. And I'm not even talking about how much they hurt if they get 'nudged'. I mean, they're just... okay. They dangle."

Paige says "Nudged! Pow!"

Aiser thinks balls are dumb.

Aiser shrugs. "Peter? He can stay. He knows when nobody wants to hear from him, and just kinda hangs out. But balls? They're like the people you didn't invite to the party, but show up anyways."

Paige has to take a moment and compose herself before shrieking with laughter all over her office.

Paige hrms and now wonders how Josh regards his balls.

Aiser shrugs. "Like, from what I can tell, most guys don't really care, they just get in the way sometimes."

Paige knows her dad is really happy with them, because he's always reaching into his pants to scratch at them. It's always the most charming part of a visit.

Aiser has a funny anecdote from last night. "I was sitting on the couch, hands above my head, relaxing. Then, in a lazy gesture, I drop my hands into my lap. Well, my right hand hits one of the little freeloaders, and I double over in pain. Chuck, who saw the whole thing, starts laughing ruckously and shouts "Dumbass!""

Cinderella is dying here. Falling off the couch.

Paige has tears in her eyeballs from the no-laughing-out-loud

Aiser sighs. "I just don't see why the little bitches can't like, I dunno, take a day trip to inside my pelvis during the times of my life where I'm, y'know, not procreating. Is that too much to ask? A little recession? Maybe with the transformer sound? A compromise maybe, one out one in. They can work in shifts."

Aiser hmms. "You know, I don't feel sorry for them at all. They hang out all day, expecting the best life can give them. Then suddenly, it's one misplaced table corner, and they suddenly don't want to play anymore? It's like... good plan there, buddies."

"We'll just chill here until something painful comes by, howzat." "Great."

Later...

Cinderella thinks if she had balls, she'd probably get all distracted with playing with them. Kinda like guys say they'd be with boobs.

Haylon says "Naw, you play with Peter. Sam and Frodo just kinda hang there."

Cinderella says "NO YOU DID NOT just call them Sam and Frodo."

Haylon did.

Cinderella says "Wrong. Wrongwrongwrong."

Cinderella now gets this mental image of Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, and that's all kinds of wrong.

Paige is going to have to go with WRONG WRONG WRONG too, there.

Hours later...

Aiser laughs. "Heehee. Hey, I'm a good boy!"

Paige says "No, no you are not."

Paige says "Father is going to be furious. ;)"

Aiser pushes Paige against the wall. "Not if he doesn't find out."

Paige knees Aiser in the Frodo and Sams.

Aiser cries out "AUGH! MY HOBBITS!"

Haylon dies!

Cinderella does likewise.

Paige dusts her hands. Her work here is done.

And hours later...

Paige says "It is apparently nakie time in our house."

Paige hides her face. "Now I can't look at Josh without doing the mental check list: peter, frodo, sam.

Cinderella laughs!!!

Haylon dies!

Haylon rolls around on the ground.

Cinderella does too.

Paige had to look away because you just /don't/ bust up at your man naked.

Cinderella giggles.

Haylon says "Couldn't they like, withdraw into my body when I'm not procreating?"

Cinderella says "Freeloaders!"

Mo Jave huhs?

Paige says "Brand apparently named his balls "Frodo" and "Sam". He's your boy, we just watch him while you're gone."

Cinderella says "Lem started it!"

Paige says "Yeah, but Lem didn't anthropomorphize them!"

Haylon says "He did so!"

Haylon says "he just didn't name them."

Cinderella says "Yeah, okay. Brand started with the Sam and Frodo wrongness."

Aiser laughs. "Little dancing hobbits!"

Cinderella says "Hell, I'm sure I've still got the whole conversation in my scroll back..."

And so I did. And this is how in-jokes get started.