He Kept Us in Stitches

I keep adding to this post on Jimmy's sense of humor so friends please know it's worth revisiting this entry for updates. I think this is one of the things he wanted to be remembered for most.

Alas, I have no way of doing justice here to all of the impersonations that Jimmy did, unless someone out there captured some of it on video. But he also coined numerous words that became ongoing jokes between those he shared these terms with. Here are just a few:

Anti-Jimmytism: Basically anything that went against his ethics. The term comes from him asking me why Jews (I'm one, thank you very much) have their own term for discrimination when everyone else has to use a more general word. "What about anti-Jimmytism," he'd say. The most flagrant example of this that I can think of is Saddam Hussein spilling all of that Iraqi oil into the sea during the Gulf War.

Area 51: It's off limits and we're not supposed to acknowledge its existence so it's blasphemous for me to even mention Area 51. That was Jimmy's term for his stomach. We'd say "Area 102" to refer to our collective guts. I think he would rather be remembered for having washboard abs, so as soon as I can find one of those photos showing that I'll upload it for prominent placement on this here blog.

Back in 'Nam: Jimmy loved that character on South Park with the artificial voice box, and when combined with the chick in American Pie who always said, "at band camp," you get "back in 'Nam." The punchline was that whoever said "Back in 'Nam" had never been to Vietnam in the first place. (The joke had nothing to do with the fact that Jimmy's dad won a purple heart during two back-to-back tours of duty in the Vietnam War. Jimmy was named after someone who died in combat over there, so our 'Nam joke was never intended as a riff on the war.)

Badunkadunk: He picked this one up from Chappelle's Show. The word originally referred to having lots of junk in the trunk, or a big butt. Jimmy and I would apply the term to anything that might increase the size of one's rump, like fattening foods. Example: "I'll have a chocolate badunkadunk."

Ee-oh-ee-oh: I told Jimmy that as a little kid I'd had a joke going with my now deceased father, in which I'd say "Daddy yo!" Jimmy ran with this one, and changed it to "ee-oh-ee-oh!" It became one of those catchphrases that could substitute for any other word.

Fish: He called himself a fish, only he pronounced it "feesh," referring to how he felt about the water. It wasn't a joke per se, but his pronunciation and tone were really cute: "I'm a feesh!"

Silverback: Jimmy was very proud of the fact that he didn't face the same kind of grooming challenges that most men deal with. He used the word silverback, which means hairy gorilla, to refer to most other guys.

White Man Dingo: Jimmy's coworker Steve can explain this joke much better than I can. Okay, this term might not be appropriate for the blog. Hmmm, how do I put this? He'd call himself Jimmy Dingo, or call something Dingo Style, that was, um, er, um... Okay, if and only if you're a male over 18 years of age, please look at the seventh definition of dingo in the urban slang dictionary. Female readers and those 17 and younger, kindly forget that I brought this up at all.

Worshipping the Doorknob: This term sums up the way Jimmy questioned the overreliance on a higher power for overcoming weaknesses. The mocking tone of voice he used had everything to do with what makes the phrase funny, so maybe you'll have to ask me about this expression in person.

Friends and family, can you remember any other jokes I haven't yet included here? Please click on the "comments" link below to share your humorous recollections here. Again, it's one of the things Jimmy would want to be remembered for most.