Student Humor

Sometimes it gets really funny at the DTS - with so many students and so many cultural representations and so many different backgrounds... the mesh can get pretty funny.

One ongoing joke we have is with Palestinians and the concept of "stoning" people - which means throwing rocks at people to kill them. Sometimes during the DTS, we poke fun at the Palestinian students because of how ancient and primitive this method of killing is. Joking comments get thrown around on both sides. Other times, the Palestinian students threaten us in a joking manner, telling us:

"You're lucky I forgot my rocks at home."

"I tried to bring my rocks, but my bags went over the weight limit at the airport so I had to remove them."

Or sometimes they'll pick up a nearby object and say, "You better watch out. It's not a rock but it'll do."

(Note: they never actually have thrown rocks or objects at the DTS. It's just a joke.)

Everyone gets laughed at for certain cultural misunderstandings, and everyone is able to laugh at themselves for that. I was sitting on the couch once with a few other students and they were all teaming up and joking around at my expense - so I picked up a couch pillow and started hitting them. The former Muslim Lebanese man walked in and stood in front of us. When we stopped, he gave me a very confused look and then said to the others, "Why does America always need to HIT people?!?"

So there's a joke now about my representing America accurately because I hit people with pillows when they were joking around with me.

Anyway - it's all in good fun, and there are other things I'm forgetting, but sometimes these things really bring us together and the humor helps us to relate, understand, and love one another and our differences.