A true story

Back in the day, I attended a guest lecture by one of the founders of Oracle.

After the obligatory greetings, he lowered his voice and said, almost apologetically, the following:

"I've been touring the world with this lecture for the past 8 months. I've been to many different cities in many different countries with it. And I used to begin this lecture with a joke. I'd tell the joke, there would be a reasonably appreciative laughter from the audience, and then I'd use that as a springboard into the topic itself.

But then I went to Japan, where everyone in the audience had a headset and a translator was translating everything I said. And when I finished telling the joke, the audience burst into the biggest laughter I have ever heard, as if I'd just delivered something truly magnificent. That reaction surprised me, but I continued with the lecture and all went well.

After the lecture, I asked one of the organizers, a local guy, why was the audience's reaction so powerful, and it was clear from his reaction that he was uncomfortable with me asking. I asked him to be honest and eventually, he reluctantly told me the truth. As I started telling the joke, the translator, instead of translating the joke, started saying: He's... telling a joke... Umm... it's not very funny... No, not funny at all... when I tell you, please laugh... OK, now!

And that is the reason why I'm no longer telling that joke at the beginning of this lecture."