My grandfather got a smartphone last spring. Since then he has sent the laughing-crying emoji four thousand times, in response to everything from jokes to parking tickets.
Translated for Younger Readers
Some jokes need context. Here is a friendly guide for anyone born after the fax machine went quiet.
- LOL once meant “lots of love”
- The crying-laughing emoji is used for every emotion
- Forwarding to twenty people was how things went viral
Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.
Mel Brooks
Share it with a grandparent. They will reply in all caps, and that is the best part.
A quick note on how this post came together: the idea arrived in our tips inbox, survived two editorial meetings, one argument about whether it was actually funny, and a vote that was decided by the office cat walking across the keyboard. We cleaned it up, checked every detail, and added only the jokes we could defend in front of our mothers.
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