French Canada at the present time, there’s no jokes. It’s getting grim. The grievances are too strong for any kind of humour. You can, though, cool situations systematically by pouring humour across them. And humour as a kind of cathartic or cure or therapy for grievance and misery, is a very effective thing. But it’s true, let’s sample anywhere. I have in front of me a whole book of one-liners. The first one I see is that the largest room in the world is the room for improvement. Like the little pothole said to the big pothole, “You are holier than I.” By the way, the pothole itself suggests grievance. The pothole causes a lot of misery. One of the most famous jokes in the history of the 20th century was the one about the better ’ole. Old Bill is looking, he’s down at the bottom of a great big bomb pit.

Forsdale: World War I.