An Open Letter to Mr. Willy Wonka

March 26, 2006

Mr. Wonka:

I recently purchased your Laffy Taffy_® product and thought you should know that the product packaging did not live up to its usual high standards.

Namely, I found that the jokes made no sense at all. Joke #91, from Nicole P of Kingman, AZ asks:

"What happened to the wind?"

The answer (under flap) given is:

"It blew away."

Now, I'm sorry.

But I think I'm a half-way intelligent person. For example, I have a blog. I spent some time with this punchline, trying to make it work. Maybe, I thought, "away" is wordplay, and it's meant to be heard as two words: "It blew a way." A way where? Home? To the store? I don't know, I need more information. And either way, it's not funny.

My riddle for you is this:

What happened to the wind joke?
It blew.

See what I did there? I took the double-meaning of "blow" and worked it so I made fun of your wrapper.

But, wait.

Is it possible, Mr. Wonka, that the wind joke is actually a very concise Shaggy Dog Story? A joke with no punchline at all, in effect, making it quite funny, in an absurdist vein?

Now that I think on it, Joke #91's a cracker, to be sure. I hadn't expected such a high level of humor from your company, therefore wasn't looking hard enough. I say, well done. Well done, indeed.

Having thought this through, I will withhold comment on Christy M.'s Joke #92 about the cow jumping over the moon, which I found dreadful, but I see now it may just need a good rethinking.

Sincerely,

Eric "Babe" Morse
President, SPASTIC