Being the world’s humblest man was hard work at the best of times.
Will looked back on his journey: the full page advertisements, the talk show appearances, the posters he had erected along interstate highways proclaiming his humility.
He was humble all right, and he’d fight anyone who thought differently.
Connell enjoys a good oxymoron. Unfortunately, this is not one of those. See more of his literary misadventures at paragraphplanet, home.wtd-magazine.com and postcardshorts.com.
A new take on an old joke, but nicely done. I thought the ending of the second para “proclaiming his humility.” to be overkill and think the story works better without it, letting the reader put 2 n 2 together. Now, what to do with the extra 3 words…
Thanks for the comments Jeff. I see what you mean and there would certainly be those extra three words to contend with. However, there might also be a problem with letting the reader put 2 n 2 together.
For me jokes, puns and many other forms of humour rely more on making spontaneous connections than on the careful analysis of the meaning in order to be funny. The risk is if there is any reason to pause and ponder, no matter how slightly, it might render the joke less potent.
‘overkill’ is a good point to raise and it got me thinking, but it’s a bit hard to test as jokes are rarely as funny the second time round and I’ve read this one many times now to be really sure. Would love to hear what others think.