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Some people refer to brain injury as an invisible injury or disability. You can’t see anyone’s brain in every day life, injured or not.
You know what else is kind of invisible? Humor. I’ve always been silly, and as I age, my humor is getting more like it was when I was a kid. But since 2010, it really has gone off the charts. Take last night. After a minute of laughing so hard I almost went hoarse, I suddenly stopped and muttered somewhat sadly “I wish I knew what was funny.” And then I promptly fell asleep.
Some people say folks can lose their sense of humor from a brain injury. I’ve seen it, and I went through it myself in 2003. But! I would argue it’s not that the sense of humor is gone. It’s that it can be hard to reach it in the familiar ways like word plays, puns, and abstract jokes. I sometimes don’t recognize sarcasm, and I get lost in complicated jokes now. Yet, if you’ve seen my films or my continuing chatter about how much I love the BBC’s Ouch! podcast, you will know that I love humor.
Yesterday, Michelle really dished out a zinger. It was one of my favorite types of accidental humor: mixing metaphors!
We know when the brain is injured, it can affect any or even all parts of your life. One thing Michelle wanted to point out, though, is that the brain is not your whole self or your whole body; it’s just part. She was very earnest when she expressed to me the following mixed metaphor which I hope to carry through my life to remind me to take perspective:
“The brain is just one tool in the whole enchilada.”
Here, I present you with two shimmering whole enchiladas (with mole! Yum!) and a wrench on a vividly glowing purple plate. Just when you think you understand the whole enchilada of a situation, someone goes and throws a wrench in it. Or on it, as the case is here.
Does anyone else think this is as funny as I do? And if so, do you have a brain injury too? Or are you just silly on your own terms?
3 responses to “Mixing Metaphors for humor”
I find humor in many of the effects of my brain injury. When something had slipped my mind or I get confused, I often say I’m having one of my “brain injury moments.” Also, because I am physically disabled, people often remember seeing me before in public and will say hi or just come up and talk to me. I have to play along like I know them, in case I do know, but have just forgotten them. I go into routines of asking questions or making comments that will initiate conversation between us in a way that they will provide information that might help me place them. I have gotten into funny situations when I am acting too well, trying to convince someone that I know them when we actually have never met before. Then they get as confused as I already am!
I like your tactics, Ann! I just come right out and say “Do I know you?” or “Sorry, I don’t remember your name.” Funny, but most people seem offended by that. Of course, we all do think it’s funny when I say it in the middle of a conversation even after I’ve shown that I fully recognize them when we first started talking! I often call my partner “Hey, um, excuse me” when his name slips my mind entirely. 🙂
Oh, Ann, sometimes I will also say “All you non-brain injured people look alike. How am I supposed remember which one you are?” That one deflects attention from the real situation pretty quickly!