A LITTLE BOOK OF HUMOR: THE FUNNY SIDE OF BEING

A LITTLE BOOK OF HUMOR: THE FUNNY SIDE OF BEING A HARD OF HEARING KID
You grow up the day you have your
first real laugh – at yourself.
Ethel Barrymore
A big thank you to all the kids who shared their humor for this
book! Being hard of hearing can be a challenge – it can be
frustrating, embarrassing and tiresome. However, once you are
able to step back and see the funny things that happen because
you are hard of hearing, it can change your perspective!
Suddenly, you don’t concentrate on all the negatives about having
a hearing loss – you begin to see that if you can smile and
sometimes even laugh about the embarrassing stuff – you become
a lot more comfortable about being hard of hearing.
I hope you enjoy this book! I also hope you will share your funny
experiences with us so we can add it to this “little book” (and
maybe someday it will become a BIG book!).
Sincerely,
Mary Bauer
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services - Metro
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 651/431-5957
TTY: 1-888-206-6513
A LITTLE BOOK OF HUMOR: THE FUNNY SIDE OF BEING
A HARD OF HEARING KID Compiled and Edited by Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services – Metro Office October, 2000 4th Edition
NOTICE:
Share the laughter…
Permission is given to make copies of this book for your
hard of hearing students and for parents of your hard of
hearing students.
SOME FUNNY EXPERIENCES…
1
[When I was about 6 years old], I was playing this video game
[while my mom was shopping], and this little boy came up and
asked if he could play. I said, “Yeah, in just a minute.” I finished
my game and handed him the controls. The little boy said, “I need
those things, too!” and he pointed to my hearing aids! The little
boy’s big brother said, “No, those are his hearing aids!”
Nick Jefferson
Eden Prairie, MN
2
I was flying in an airplane with my sister to Maryland to visit my
dad. An old lady right next to me heard me singing and she asked
me if my hearing aids were a radio. I said no, I was just singing to
myself. But I wish there were radios in my hearing aids!
Angela Zellen
Eagan, MN
*******************************************
I was 3 ½ when I got my hearing aids. The little girl next door was
2 ½. She wanted “ear rings” like me. She thought they were cool.
Then one day her mom asked her if she was listening and she
said, “I need hearing aids like Mike.”
Michael Welf
Eden Prairie, MN
*******************************************
We thought my hearing had gone down, but actually I had a piece
of cotton stuck in my ear.
Suzanne Haas
Cottage Grove, MN
3
One day, I was wearing my FM system in the fifth grade. The FM
system started to have the radio or the channel five news on it. So
whenever the teacher was talking, I would not be able to hear the
teacher then I would be listening to the radio or the channel five
news. I didn’t mind!
Tami L. Hemmingson
Cottage Grove, MN
*******************************************
One day when we were going to church and my dad had my
hearing aid in his pocket (because I had my FM on). During the
church service my hearing aid started whistling. People thought it
was the microphones [in the church]. Then my dad realized it was
my hearing aid! So my mom had to take it outside and turn it off.
My dad had to go up front and tell them what happened!
Everybody looked at me! My family and I were so embarrassed!
eee
ee
e
Sarah Roethel
Detroit Lakes, MN
*******************************************
There was this girl in one of my classes. She would talk to me as if
I was really deaf. She didn’t know if I could talk because I didn’t
talk very much in class. She wrote me a letter and asked if I could
talk, and I looked at her and said I could talk. Her face got red,
and I said it was OK because I didn’t talk much in class. From that
day on she would talk to me instead of signing to me.
Shing Thao
St. Paul Park, MN
4
When I was 18 months old, I got my first set of hearing aids. When
I ran down the hall, suddenly I stopped. I turned around, my eyes
as wide as saucers, and said, “Mommy, mommy, my feet make
noise!” It was the first time I ever heard my own footsteps.
Sam Olson
Fairmont, MN
STOMP,
STOMP,
STOMP!!
*******************************************
When I was little, about 6 years old, my family all went to a signing
class. Our teacher told us to form a circle to play a game. One
person stands in the middle of the circle with their eyes covered.
Someone in the circle was to start signing or doing an action, and
everyone else was to copy him. The person in the middle needed
to open his eyes and guess who was the person changing the
signs. When it was my turn to go inside the circle, I covered my
eyes with my hands. The bell rang and everyone in the circle went
and sat down, including my loving family. I stood there, in the
middle of a nonexistent circle waiting for someone to tap me on the
shoulder to tell me to start. I waited and waited and waited.
Finally I opened my eyes and I was so embarrassed. No one
noticed except my family, and they laughed. At the time, it wasn’t
funny. Now I can laugh about it.
Jessica Urban
Truman, MN
5
Last year I was in 7th grade math. I really hated math because it is
always boring. My sister, Tami, was in 8th grade health. My class
was right across from her class and we both were wearing a FM
system. Then one day, I could hear her class but she couldn’t
hear mine. It was funny because my teacher asked me a question
– I didn’t answer because Tami’s class was more interesting than
my class was anyway. Then my teacher shouted the question. I
still didn’t answer. Everyone in my class started laughing. My
teacher came up to me and asked, “Why didn’t you answer my
question?” I told her, “It was because my FM system was
interfering with my sister’s FM system. I was listening to find out
what they were learning about in health.” I got away with it
because our classes were so close to each other.
Sarah Hemmingson
Cottage Grove, MN
*******************************************
When I was still using the FM system, the teachers would always
forget to turn it off. Whenever they were talking to another teacher,
I could hear what they were talking about. They would talk about
what kinds of movie to show to the class, and they would talk
about how their students were doing in class and how they were
behaving.
Shing Thao
St. Paul Park, MN
6
When I was in preschool, my mom would drop me off at speech
class and come pick me up in an hour. One day, my mom came
into the school and heard someone yelling at the top of his lungs.
My mom thought that someone was really in trouble and was
catching the dickens. When she got to the other side of the school,
where the yelling was coming from, she rounded the corner and
realized the principal was yelling at me. My mom gave the principal
a strange look and he said, “See, she can hear me.” My mom said,
“Yeah, but so can the people 10 miles away!”
Jessica Urban
Truman, MN
*******************************************
In dance [class] when my dance teacher said to dance, I made up a
dance. Everybody laughed because I was supposed to do my
dance part.
Elizabeth Dropps
Taylors Falls, MN *******************************************
A girl in my class never talked to me because she didn’t know how
to sign. So one day as I was talking to the teacher, she looked and
said, “You could hear the teacher?” I said, “Of course. If I didn’t,
would I be getting a B in this class?” From that day on she would
talk to me. Sometimes we got in trouble because we were talking
too much!
Shing Thao
St. Paul Park, MN
7
THE ”POPULAR” QUESTION PEOPLE ASK
WHEN THEY SEE A HEARING AID IN YOU
EAR IS…
“WHAT IS THAT THING IN YOUR EAR?”
8
HERE ARE SOME OF YOUR ANSWERS…
¾ An electric wax collector.
¾ [It’s my] third ear.
¾ My beeper.
¾ My musical chimes.
¾ What things in my ears?
¾ A new fashion statement.
Suzanne Haas
Cottage Grove, MN
*******************************************
Ever since I was in Elementary School, people would always ask me,
“What is that in your ear?” I had always been making jokes like it is a
part of my earrings, a part of my clothes, etc. After I was finished with
the jokes, I usually told the people that it was a hearing aid that helped
to hear things better because I was hard of hearing.
Sarah Hemmingson
Cottage Grove, MN
9
• I don’t want to listen to the teacher’s boring speech so I use
these to plug my ears.
• It is my cool new radio my mom got me.
• I am working with the FBI. This is a radio that I can hear what is
going on down at the station.
• They are a new earring style. Do you like them?
Shing Thao
St. Paul Park, MN
*******************************************
♦ Earplugs, so I don’t have to listen to the teacher!
♦ My radio communication with outer space.
♦ To keep my brain inside my head.
Sarah Roethel
Detroit Lakes, MN
******************************************
♦ In school I get bored so I’m listening to the radio.
♦ No, it’s ok. I just got something from S”ears”.
Jessica Urban
Truman, MN
10 ¾ They are my pet aliens. ¾ They are my eyes.
¾ They are antenna for my brain.
¾ They are goo coming out of my ears.
Andy Dropps
Taylors Falls, MN
*******************************************
ƒ What deers? I don’t have any deers!
ƒ What? What’s wrong?
ƒ A secret dialing device to call Superman!
ƒ A secret phone.
Lucus Wilde
Eden Prairie, MN
11 ™ Haven’t you heard? It is a new style and it is an earring for
inside of your ear.
™ It is my radio transmitter.
™ I am working undercover for the St. Paul Park police.
™ It grew in my ear during the evening.
Tami L. Hemmingson
Cottage Grove, MN
*******************************************
‰
They are arms for my brain.
‰
They are radios.
‰
They are ear coats.
Alex Dropps
Taylors Falls, MN
12 THOSE PESKY WORDS THAT SOUND
LIKE OTHER WORDS! FAN
or
PAN ? BOX
or
FOX ? FIFTY
BYE
or
FIFTEEN ? or
13 HI ? I was talking to 3 sisters (2 hearing and one deaf) and they were
talking about a song they were doing for a dance recital. I thought
they said the name of the song was “I’m a Doorbell.” I said to
them, “That is the silliest title of a song I have EVER heard of!
You’re a doorbell? Like, ‘ding dong, Avon calling’?” They all
started laughing!!! I said, “What?” They said, “No, no! It’s, I’m
Adorable, not I’m a Doorbell.” We laughed and laughed and then
they went to tell their parents. Ever since then, every time I talk to
them or they talk to me, my name is Mary “Doorbell” Bauer!
So beware of words that sound similar – you can totally
misunderstand. But just think – you might get a new nickname and
you might laugh a lot when it happens to you!
Mary Bauer
St. Paul, MN
(I’m not a kid anymore,
but I have been hard of hearing since I was born!)
14 My dad once told me to get out the grill but I said, “Where is the
drill?”
or
Lucas Wilde
Eden Prairie, MN
*******************************************
You said you want
to see the rabbits.
No. I said I’m going
to see the cabbage.
Alex Dropps
Taylors Falls, MN
15 I was making tomato soup when my mom said to put it on five but I
put it on high. Then the soup boiled over and spilled.
Elizabeth Dropps
Taylors Falls, MN
*******************************************
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America… …and to the
Republican for
Witches stand.
GOP
GOP
GOP
GOP
Chris always wondered what
that line in the pledge meant.
Christopher VanDyke
Hibbing, MN
16 When I was a little girl, we went to deaf camp at Lake Shetek. One
part of the camp, the parents go to classes and the kids go do stuff
around the camp. This year, it rained so we all went in to watch a
movie. When my parents got out of the class, they asked what we
did. I said we watched a movie. “What movie did you watch?”
“We watched Four Skunks.” “Four Skunks?” I’ve never heard of
that movie.” “Yes, mom, you’ve seen it.” “I’ve never ever heard of
the movie Four Skunks.” “Yes mom, the man ran and ran and
ran.” “Oh, “ my mom said, “You mean Forrest Gump!” Because I
was too little to read fast enough [for the captioning], I just read
people’s lips and Forrest Gump didn’t make sense to me [so I
picked something that I thought made sense – Four Skunks!]
Jessica Urban
Truman, MN
17 Andy, can you go
get some butter?
Okay.
Not the tape.
Butter.
THE
END
Oh…
Andy Dropps
Taylors Falls, MN
18 OLDIES BUT GOODIES! DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT… ? There were 3 deaf ladies sitting on a train.
The first lady said, “It’s windy out there.”.
The second lady said, “It’s not Wednesday, it’s Thursday
The third lady replied, “Yes I’m thirsty, too, let’s go get a coke.” Retold by Jessica Urban
Truman, MN
19 AND FINALLY…
20 …SOMETIMES THERE ARE ADVANTAGES OF BEING ABLE TO TAKE OFF YOUR HEARING AIDS!
I’m sleeping in
my bed without
my hearing aid.
Lindsey Sutter
Eagan, MN
21 THE END
If you would like to share a funny experience about being a hard of
hearing kid, please see the center of this booklet for more details.
We plan to update and expand A Little Book of Humor: The Funny
Side of Being a Hard of Hearing Kid every year (IF we get enough
new stories every year!).
Compiled and Edited by
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services –
Metro Office
444 Lafayette Road North
St. Paul, MN 55155-3814
This information is available in other
forms to people with disabilities by
calling 651-431-5940 (Voice) or
1-888-206-6516 (TTY). For speech­
to-speech telephone re-voice services,
contact us through Minnesota Relay at
1-877-627-3848.
What are your responses (funny ones!) to people who ask you,
“What are those things in your ears?”
Name_______________________________________
Age_________________ Grade__________________
Town
State
Something funny that happened to me because of my hearing loss is...
( After writing about your experience, if you want to, you can draw a picture
to go along with the story.)
Name_______________________________________
Age_________________ Grade__________________
Town
State
Consent for the Release of Information
For Public Information Purposes
I, ______________________________________, give the Minnesota
Department of Human Services the right to use my child’s humorous
anecdote, name, and city as follows:
Content of anecdote: example of using humor to successfully cope with
being hard of hearing.
Released to: Mary Bauer and Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services.
For the purpose of expanding the booklet, A Little Book of Humor: The
Funny Side of Being a Hard of Hearing Kid, highlighting humorous
anecdotes to share with other hard of hearing kids, their family members,
teachers, and other interested parties.
I understand that I do not have the right to review and approve the anecdote
prior to its release. I also understand that I may revoke this consent at any
time unless the information has already been approved for printing. I also
understand that I will not get paid for the use of this information.
____________________________________________________
Child’s Name
____________________________________________________
Parent/Guardian Signature
(_________)______________________________
Phone Number
________________________
Date
If you would like a copy of A Little Book of Humor: The Funny Side of Being
a Hard of Hearing Kid please include your address:
____________________________________________________
Name
____________________________________________________
Street
____________________________________________________
City, State, Zip Code
Mail your anecdote and this consent form to:
Mary Bauer
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services - Metro
444 Lafayette Road North
St. Paul, MN 55155-3814