A leopard is stalking a herd of gnus/wildebeest. First Gnu: Uh-oh, where’s our LOVING SHEPHERD? Second Gnu: I don’t know, but there’s a SHOVING LEOPARD!
What’s so funny about this? Not much, if you’re a wildebeest or gnu. The situation shown here is pretty desperate. We see a herd of wildebeest somewhere on the African plain. We also see a presumably hungry leopard stalking these animals. It’s a life or death situation for one or the other. At least one of these gnus is going to be killed or, if it isn’t it, the leopard may starve. Not what I’d call a win-win situation. It’s more of a zero sum scenario, and winner takes all. So if it’s not funny, why am I making a joke about it? Looking at a photo of this situation on the internet, here in the US, puts me so far out of the situation that I can’t empathize, much less do anything about it. In fact this photo was taken many years ago, so the emotional value is gone. But there is some language educational value that we
