When It's Not That Funny...

Have you ever caught yourself saying, “Oh, that’s funny”  without actually laughing? 

This weekend, my boyfriend’s brother (Steve) and his girlfriend (Katherine) came down to Florida for a visit.  While in the car heading to dinner, Steve announced that his friends from home would be joining us.

Steve:  It’s going to be really tough to remember their names.

Me:     Oh yeah?  Why is that?

Steve:  My friend’s name is Steve and his girlfriend’s name is Michelle.

Me:     Oh, that’s funny.

But it wasn’t that funny....certainly not funny enough to laugh at.  So, why, then did I say it?  That was when I realized that there is no phrase that we can use to express the sentiment, ‘it’s funny, but not funny enough to laugh out loud.”

The conversation for the duration of our drive centered around this exact topic. We began to breed phrases that could possibly convey the idea that something can be funny, but not really laughable.  The closest sentence we came up with that proclaims this feeling is: Laughing On The Inside, or LOTI for short.  Can LOTI replace “that’s funny?”  I’m not so sure.  

Then, I realized, I’m not really laughing on the inside either!  So, again, why am I calling something funny when it’s really not?  Is it because it’s better to say something than nothing at all?  Is it just a filler...some words to throw in a conversation when we don’t know how to respond to someone?  What in the world can we say to replace such a nonsensical phrase?!?  

*If your response to this post is, “that’s funny,” please help in my mission to come up with a substitute.