“His jokes may be much worse in your opinion than they are in his opinion; but after all they must be jokes; they cannot be entirely shapeless mysteries, like many modern works of philosophy.”
G.K. Chesterton in “Sherlock Holmes” in A Handful of Authors, quoted in “Can’t You Take A Joke?” in Gilbert: The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 27 #2 (November/December 2023)
“I hadn’t expected him to open up, since he is as pigheaded as I am steadfast, but he could have made some little comment.”
Narrator Archie Goodwin re himself and his boss Nero Wolfe in Rex Stout “Blood Will Tell” in Trio for Blunt Instruments
“How to tell you’re an adult:/ * You gain 30lbs overnight/ * You'd rather sleep than go out/* Everything hurts/* Comfort comes before style/* You have a favorite spatula/* Everything feels like a chore/* College students look like 12 year olds/ You’re always annoyed”
Emailed by a friend Nov. 29, 2025 [without attribution].
“If you're shopping in a Home Depot store, and someone who doesn't work there offers you assistance, you may live in Canada.
If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Canada.
If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong-number, you may live in Canada.
If 'vacation' means going anywhere south of Detroit for the weekend, you may live in Canada.
If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Canada.
If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Canada.
If you've switched from 'HEAT' to 'AIR-CONDITIONING' and back again, in the same day, you may live in Canada.
If you can drive 90 kilometers an hour through 2 feet of snow, during a raging blizzard, without flinching, you may live in Canada.
If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in Canada.
If you carry jumper-cables in your car, and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in Canada.
If you design your child's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you may live in Canada.
If the speed limit on the highway is 100 km/hour, and you're going at 120, and everyone's passing you, you may live in Canada.
If driving is better in the winter because all the potholes are filled with snow, you may live in Canada.
If you know all four seasons: Almost-winter, Winter, Still-winter, and Road Construction: you may live in Canada.
If you have more miles on your snow-blower than on your car, you may live in Canada.
If you think of minus-2-degrees as being 'a little chilly', you may live in Canada.”
Complete text of that part of an interesting-item roundup email from a friend Nov. 22 2025
“STEVEN GUILBEAULT HAS RESIGNED FROM CABINET/ A TRAGIC DAY FOR MEN WHO CUT THEIR OWN HAIR IN THE DARK”
Standalone unattributed image emailed by a friend Dec. 1, 2025 showing Guilbeault with a bad ragged bowl cut.
“The president [Ronald Reagan], apparently, was so totally unaware of where his foreign policy was that he had to appoint a distinguished commission to help him locate it, and when they commissioners called him in to testify, he told them, essentially, that he couldn’t remember what it looked like. Now, if Richard Nixon had claimed something like that you would at least have had the comfort of knowing he was lying. You could trust Nixon that way. But with this president, you have this nagging feeling that he’s telling the truth.”
Dave Barry Greatest Hits [re Iran-Contra mostly].
“Being funny has nothing to do with being untrue or undesirable.”
G.K. Chesterton in Daily News 14/9/1907, quoted in “Can’t You Take A Joke?” in Gilbert: The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 27 #2 (November/December 2023)
“I think we may jest on any subject. But I do not think that we may jest on any occasion.”
G.K. Chesterton in Daily News September 1, 1906, quoted in “Can’t You Take A Joke?” in Gilbert: The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 27 #2 (November/December 2023)