Knock knock...

Humour is always difficult to export - especially so when it is of the bitter, sardonic, or satyrical sort. This post, and that line of thought, started when I sat down on impulse to report to a group of friends (most of them living in the US) a joke which my (British moslem) students have been telling me for the past couple of weeks.

First of all, I would have to explain the genre of the joke. As a child in the US, nearly five decades ago, I heard the "knock knock" joke often ... but I've never heard it there since, as an adult. Perhaps it is no longer used there as it is in the UK?

Then I would have to explain the UK current affairs background to the joke. US news media are not hot on foreign events outside the big headline stories like Iraq.

After all that, would the joke itself have survived - or would all the juice and bite have been explained out of it?

So I never wrote the email. I wrote this exploratory blog post instead.

The background first.

Twelve days ago, in a joint operation with the Security Service, 250 police officers raided a London home in the early hours of the morning. Details are hazy but they were acting on intelligence that a chemical weapon, in the form of a suicide vest, was being assembled on the premises. Two brothers, both Muslim, occupied the house; one of them was shot as they were arrested - again, the details of how this happened are unclear, and are the subject of a current complaints investigation. The house was sealed off behind scaffolding and plastic sheeting, to be dismantled by forensic science teams seeking the weapon.

Then, after more than a week, the brothers were released without charge. The forensic teams, plastic sheeting and scaffolds were removed. Police sources admitted that nothing had been found, but insisted that "the intelligence had been good". An apology, of sorts, was given some days later. Understandaably, neither the brothers nor the surrounding community are impressed.

In the US this would raise few eyebrows, but in the uK it disrupts norms. Comparatively few polce officers are licensed to carry fire arms; comparatively few of those who are so licensed ever do so. Rules of engagement are tight, and every shot fired triggers an enquiry. Streets are usually cleared before an armed raid.

So much for background. Now for the genre of humour known as the "knock knock joke".

A knock knock joke has a very rigid form, and takes its name from the first line. Someone knocks on a door; someone inside asks who is there; an answer is given and queried; the punchline (traditionally, but not always, a pun) lies in the response to that query.

Here's an example beloved of schoolchildren. I've identified the caller as "A" and the homeowner inside as "B".

A: "Knock knock!"

B: "Who's there?"

A: "Amos"

B: "Amos who?"

A: "A mosquito!"

And here's another which, because of my name, I heard very frequently as I grew up and am still told about once a year by somebody who thinks it original:

A: "Knock knock!"

B: "Who's there?"

A: "Felix"

B: "Felix who?"

A: "If 'e licks my ice cream again, I'll 'it 'im!"

A variant on the theme subverts the form by using the word "who" as part of the final line, as in this one which references the title and main character of a classic TV programme:

A: "Knock knock!"

B: "Who's there?"

A: "Doctor"

B: "Doctor who?"

A: "That's right - Doctor Who!"

Another strand denies the query:

A: "Knock knock!"

B: "Who's there?"

A: "Gestapo"

B: "Gestapo who?"

A: "Slap, slap - WE ask the questions!"

Finally, there is a variant in which the structure is disrupted in some way:

A: "Knock knock!"

B: "Who's there?"

A: "The interupting sheep."

B: "The interrup...."

A: "Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Those last two types (denial and disruption) are combined in the example which many of my students (particularly those from Muslim communities) have been using over the past ten days. The details vary, but the basic idea is constant:

A: "Knock knock!"

B: "Who's th..."

A: BANG!!!

B: Bang wh...

A: "BANG! It's the Police and we'll apologise later."