In my group of friends there is an emphasis on being funny. This is especially true for the guys in the group, the funnier you are, the cooler you are, and the more beneficial it is to have you around.

. One of the best things about my friends is the rule that governs what can and cannot be joked about. Because of our shared morals, values, and religious beliefs inappropriate jokes aren't laughed at, and by default aren't permitted. The guys make a very specific effort to not make the girls feel uncomfortable by avoiding sexist, or otherwise inappropriate, obscene jokes. Furthermore, jokes that demean any minority are always considered below reproach and otherwise unacceptable.

Everyone kind of knows who is funny and who isn't, and in what ways. There are some people who have the dry humor, some people who are funny because they have no shame and aren't easily embarrassed, some goofy people, et cetera. That has instilled a sort of informal hierarchy, and one of my friends, Ryan, has placed himself at the top of the hierarchy because he likes to tell people when they make comments that were intended to be funny, but weren't. In essence, Ryan determines who is and who is not allowed to communicate. When he singles someone out and lets him or her know that his or her comment wasn't really worth the time that it took to listen to it, suddenly that person is rejected, at least for a while.

As with all humor, the rule of context also applies. When I tell my mom how funny my friend Mike is, she was surprised to instead meet a polite, cordial, respectable young man. His Saturday Night Live-esque humor didn't show at all when he met her, because it was more important to him that he impress her with his manners than his jokes.

One of the inside jokes that is running rampant among my friends is the mispronunciation of words. There's no rhyme, reason, or theme to these mispronunciations, they just kind of happen. For example, my friend Tom is commonly called Thom, or instead of saying "get" we add an "r" and make it "gert." Or, in a recent trip to Canada we refused to say Canada and insisted on calling it "Canadia," just for the reaction of the Canadians that we were probably offending.

Learn more about this author, A. South.
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