Wrapper 7: Not exactly

So I've been complaining about how these stupid jokes too often feature homophone-based punchlines that really only work out loud, and how Laffy Taffy's resolution of over-explaining them has not worked. Good news! They didn't do that this time. Bad news! This.

What did one casket say to the other casket?
Martha W.

I see this joke was submitted to Laffy Taffy in the late 1700s by Martha Washington. No? Well, it may as well have been.

Is that you "coughing"?

No! No, no, no. Close, but no cigar. Here is the CORRECT way to have written this, if you had to tell it at all:

Is that you "coffin"?

Now, maybe that joke is a little hard to parse in print. And it should be, because it is a joke that is DEPENDENT ON ORAL COMMUNICATION, and also because the punchline is super weak. But if you're going to make me work for one of the words, you make me work for the one that makes sense in the "real" sentence - i.e. coughing. You do not make me work for the PUN on which the entire reason for telling the joke at all is based! I mean, I think we're all glad they didn't print "Is that you 'coffin' (coughing)?" but this is more a lateral move than a step forward. Yeesh.

Besides, if you're going to do a joke dependent on this sort of pun, doesn't the punned sentence really need to be a lot more common than "Is that you coughing?" While "Is that you 'coffin'?" would be better, the problem you do run into is that it looks like a typo for "Is that your coffin?" Which I guess isn't any better of a situation to be in. But that's why you SHOULDN'T PRINT JOKES THAT ARE INTENDED TO BE TOLD OUT LOUD.