I'm playing The Game of Life with Eunjoo and Lisa. I get an action card that challenges me to tell a joke to make the other players laugh. If they do I get money from the bank.

I don't know any jokes. I've read some recently, and when I did, I remember thinking I should remember them for the next time I play the Game of Life, or for class. But I didn't remember them. The only jokes I can remember are from an Elephant Joke book I had when I was seven. "Why do Elephants have wrinkly knees?" – "From playing marbles." But my elephant jokes have never worked.

I'm about to give up, but then I do remember there was this clever joke about getting down from a duck. It must have been from a Duck Joke book.

"How do you get down from a duck?" I ask.

Lisa doesn't answer.

"No wait." I say. I think that that is the punch line. "How do yo.."

Geese have down right? That must be it.

"How do you get down from a Goose?" I correct.

Lisa and Eunjoo just look at me.

"You don't, you get down from a duck!" I blurt in laughter.

They are confused. "No," I correct, thinking the down is from the goose, "The other way around."

Is it? I think they both have down, ducks and geese. But, really, what is the joke. I'm like a student trying to remember a proof rather than to think through it. Reset. What is the joke? Oh, yeah, the down from the duck is only the punch-line. The setup is some animal without down. An animal you can ride.

"How do you get down from a dog?"

Eunjoo is shaking her head.

"Oh, wait," I laugh at the absurd difficulty I am having telling a child's joke, "You can't even ride a dog."

Lisa has started to roll for her turn.

"How do you get down from a horse?!?!" Barely a pause: "You don't, you get down from a duck!"

I'm laughing, but Eunjoo and Lisa don't get it. They don't know what down is. The joke doesn't translate. Mostly my jokes are for me anyways.

"Do I get the money if I make myself laugh?"

"No. You always laugh at your jokes. It has to be funny to anyone else," says Eunjoo.

"Maybe you should have to pay the bank some money, Daddy," adds Lisa.