Geographic Humor

It’s always risky when humor comes at someone else’s expense.  Yet it happens that way a lot.  Our valley is known for producing super premium wines, and last July I arranged for some to be shipped to friends and family in Hawaii.  The winery said they would not be sending anything until the weather cooled to become more favorable for wine shipments. Fair enough; it gets very hot around here in August and even September.  No one wants their finest wine sitting out in blazing heat on the airport tarmac.  October, they said, would be the shipping month.  Here it is the end of October and still no shipments, so I called the winery.  They were still waiting for the cooler weather, they said. They had been checking every day on Honolulu weather and there was still no sign of cooling at that end.  They would have to wait.  Think about that for a minute.  You have to admit there is something pretty funny about waiting around for the cool fall weather in Hawaii.

Geographic ignorance about our own country is a constant source of sad amusement.  People who are anchored in a particular region can get some pretty weird ideas about what lies beyond, despite whatever they were supposed to have learned in grade school.  Now and then a local from around here will announce their big trip “back east” meaning Nebraska or South Dakota.  Life long Northeasterners wonder if the ‘O’ states (Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon) are all pretty much near each other out there somewhere.  When we moved from NYC to Walla Walla, Washington some of our friends asked if that is a neighborhood near the White House.  And so it goes.