Jokes Of Albanian Communist Days

Jokes are distinguished by their forceful and uncompromising game with the hearer. This 'game' is achieved by a happy combination of 'denotations' and 'connotations'. As a further illustration of this, I may say with certainty that I have found no better example than Tefë Palushi's joke about the Hotel Tirana International. It should be understood that in communist times the words 'inside' and 'outside' had strong political connotations. As in English, the expression 'to go inside' had come to mean to go to prison, whereas 'to go outside' meant to visit a foreign country. Thus the extra impact, the twist of meaning Tefë Palushi gives his anecdote, is itself anecdotal. When he'd describe his visit to the famously fifteen-floored Hotel Tirana, he'd say: 'When I went inside, how was I supposed to get out, and when I got outside how was I supposed to get in?' The play on words flips meaning, and then flips it back again. I still consider this joke, to my mind, among the finest and strongest about communist rule in all the countries of the East.