About this quote

Groups often turn a single person's difference into an easy annual joke. The line points out how humor can let people avoid the awkward work of actually listening or changing their behavior. If you laugh along, notice whether you're protecting the group story rather than the person being singled out. If you're the one on the receiving end, name the boundary you want and refuse to be the punchline.

When to use it

• At the product retro when the team started teasing Mark about his offbeat UX idea, I rolled my eyes and muttered the line under my breath.
• At the family Christmas when Uncle Joe got singled out for believing conspiracy theories, I quoted it to my sister to cut the tension.
• After a campus debate club dismissed a quieter member's theory, I said the line out loud to stop the pile-on and steer the conversation back to the idea.
• In the locker room when everyone jokingly blamed one player for 'weird plays,' I used the line to point out that the teasing had gone too far.