easily amused

In some ways, I'm easily amused, I guess.

For example - there's a radio commercial that plays fairly often here (it also exists in television form, but I've not seen it in quite a while.) It's for a particular car insurer.

The set-up of the commerical is, it's a car race (I presume NASCAR-type, but that's not explicitly mentioned). One of the drivers* gets rear-ended and as a result, calls his insurance agent from the car (in the televised form, this is very dramatic; the guy's car is somersaulting through the air.

And he says to the agent: "Hello? I just got rear-ended by some yahoo." And he says it very calmly and politely, with this totally flat affect. (In the televised form, he follows it up with something like: "Well, I'm fine. But my car is kinda busted up.")

And that always, always make me smile. I think it's the incongruity - I find things that are incongruous funny. I mean - how many people who had just got rear-ended would be speaking so calmly to their insurance agent? And how many would refer to the other driver as a "yahoo"?

(The way he says it - with sort of a Tennessee - or maybe it's Alabama - drawl - contributes to the funniness of the line. I mean: he is SO polite about it, in a situation where a lot of the people I know would be spouting four-letter words all over the place).


The insurance company is not my company - and I'm happy with the one I have now and probably wouldn't switch - but I still love that line and it makes me chuckle. (And I have to admit: this is my sense of humor - if I ever got rearended and it were a minor enough accident that I was walking around outside the car and the other driver was walking around outside the car and we were both unhurt, I'd LOVE to call up my agent and say, "Hello? I just got rear-ended by some yahoo." I doubt my agent would laugh, though...considering that it's a competitior of the company I'm with).

But yeah. Easily amused. That's me.


(*And I must plead ignorance, not being a NASCAR follower: I have no idea if the guy involved is a real driver or an actor. My gut tells me "real driver" because the delivery is just amateur ENOUGH...I think an actor would sound "slicker" somehow)