This morning's Oz has brought me to a terrible realisation.
Now I know why I don't get a lot of visitors, or get invited out much.
It's now plain as day.

Headline:
Beware death by bad jokes

Text:
MOSCOW, Idaho: There's a reason comedians call it "dying on stage".
Research by a US linguist at Washington State University has found that people who tell bad jokes often endure an astonishing outpouring of hostility from the listeners.
"These were basically attacks intended to result in the social exclusion or humiliation of the speaker, punctuated on occasion with profanity, a nasty glare or even a solid punch to the arm", researcher Nancy Bell said.
The joke that Bell used in her research was:
"What did the big chimney say to the little chimney?
"Nothing, chimneys can't talk"....

So, I'm obviously in the wrong business.
I should be a linguist.
Then I might get invited to parties.
(And everyone knows the real answer is "You're too young to smoke".)

Sledge