Cultured humour.

Ah guffaw. 

Laughter.

This is what one of the human connections.

One connection spanned across the world and culture.

His name was Ole. He laughed when I pronounced it wrong.

"Not like oil of Olay, It is like '<oolah>"

He had come to Bible school from Norway. I am 1/4 Norwegian, so we talked.

I wanted to learn some ancestral language so I bugged him to teach me. 

He shrugged his shoulders and handed me a English/Norwegian dictionary.

As I hung out he showed me a magazine from home--with a topless girl!

"Your mom sent you a dirty magazine?!?" 

He chuckled, "Vat? No, is like'People' magazine. She's not doing anything. Uffda, Canadians."

We started a cultural exchange of jokes. Some didn't translate. Some were off color. All were funny.

Some girls would ask, "How are you friends? He's so tall, and handsome...I mean serious and mysterious."

I tried to help him. "But Mark, why would I smile, unless something is humorous?" he asked.

"To smile when you meet is a social convention. To laugh when it's not funny is polite."

I watched his somber point-A-to-point-B stride halt suddenly.

He spun and held a poor girl's gaze. Frozen with attention, he grinned at her with all his teeth.

"Ja, is good to see you." he said and marched off. Leaving her bewildered and me howling.

On a weekend conference with this Norwegian, a Japanese girl, and me, (sounds like a joke),

They asked 'Brother Jones' to pray, I stood and orated a wonderful prayer. They meant someone else.

He teased me often, especially in the cafeteria, "Brudder Yones, I'll bet you vant to pray."

One day as a rambunctious fellow with an explosive braying chortle stood out in the dorm hall,

I found the word 'latter'(laughter) in the lexicon and giggled at the archaic definition: guffaw.

Ole looked quizzically. As I tried to explain, a deafening example boomed from the doorway.

Instead of explaining further, I simply pointed and stated the fellow's name.

Ole raised his eyebrow, and said two words that set me off, I still hear in my head,

"Ahhhhhh, guffaw"