Derek and Carla met while on a singles cruise and they fell head over heels in love.
When they discovered they lived in the same city only a few miles apart, Derek was ecstatic. He immediately started asking her out when they got home.
Within a couple of weeks, Derek had taken Carla to dance clubs, restaurants, concerts, movies, and museums. He became convinced that Carla was indeed his soul mate and true love. Every date seemed better than the last. On the one-month anniversary of their first dinner on the cruise ship, Derek took Carla to a fine restaurant.
While having cocktails and waiting for their salad, he said to her, “I guess you can tell I’m very much in love with you. I’d like a little serious talk before our relationship continues to the next stage. So, before I get a box out of my jacket and ask you a life changing question, it’s only fair to warn you, I’m a total golf nut. I play golf, I read about golf, I watch golf on TV. In short, I eat, sleep, and breathe golf. If that’s going to be a problem for us, you’d better say so now!”
Carla took a deep breath and responded, “Derek that certainly won’t be a problem. I love you as you are and I love golf too; but, since we’re being totally honest with each other, you need to know that for the last five years I’ve been a h**ker.”
“That’s alright.” Derek replied, “I bet it’s because you’re not keeping your wrists straight when you hit the balls.”
Explanation: This joke is funny because it builds up to what sounds like a serious confession, then swerves into a silly misunderstanding. Carla says she’s “been a h**ker,” which most people would take to mean she’s worked as a s*x worker. But Derek, obsessed with golf, innocently interprets “h**ker” in the golf sense: someone whose shots curve sharply to the left because they don’t keep their wrists straight. The humor comes from Derek’s obliviousness and single-minded focus on golf, turning what should have been a dramatic moment into a goofy golf tip.
