A Doorstep Joker

How often can you say you visited someone's place and you got told a joke on the doorstep? Some doormats can be pretty funny, so watch out for them next time you go visit someone. Of course how funny they are sort of depends on your own sense of humor, but for the most part, they can at least raise a smile.

So far, the trend seems to be that more people are buying these mats to liven up their doorsteps and help to make light of the mundane. But you still don't see them very often, so when you do it can be a pleasant surprise.

What To Look For in a Funny Doormat

Of course it wasn't always this way when you visited someone's place. So far, we have doormats that have evolved from just plain boring ones, to ones that said, simply "Welcome" to the latest ones that display artfully printed images and/or accompanying captions that can be clever, witty and devilishly funny!

So what would you look for when considering buying one of these funny doormats for yourself? Would you be more attracted to a great image that was humorous in itself, or would you lean more toward an in-your-face caption that was pretty witty?

Personally, I like to go for something unusual, off the wall sort of like a doormat with attitude. I take a look online at what's available and then check which the best selling items are. You can do that on Amazon at least, so it can actually give you a pretty good idea of what everyone's buying.

Then I go for one that is at the back of the line in terms of popularity, because very few people are buying it. Neat trick, huh?

Do You Follow the Herd?

Of course, not everyone wants to be so different from the rest, so most people go for the most popular mats. I guess they figure if everyone's buying this or that particular mat, it must be the best!

The way I see it, if I walk down a street and every home has the same doormat, the funny aspect sort of dies. A joke is funny the first time and maybe the second if you haven't heard it for a while, but a line of four or more and it sort of goes a little flat.

I know there's not much you can do especially if you tend to visit the same house every day or at least pretty frequently and the same mat greets you every time. After a while you stop seeing the message or image, it stops registering on your brain as something you need to look at because it's funny!

Funny is Better than Boring

Does familiarity breed contempt? I guess it does especially when we see the same thing every day. It's like seeing a billboard advertising a brand of soap powder or some such and we register it the first few times we see it but after that it just becomes background noise.

Whatever, I think I would rather be greeted by the same humorous slogan or image than a boring plain doormat or even one that just said "welcome" any day. It tells me the owners of that house have a sense of humor and that I'm going to enjoy being in their company.

What does your welcome doormat say about you, I wonder?

Doormats with Attitude

You've probably seen one or two of them yourself, great doormats with funny captions, images, clever slogans and even rude or borderline offensive messages printed on them. What you have is a welcome to someone's home that can put a smile on your face, embarrass you, make you laugh out loud or even make you a little mad!

In fact, some of these great printed doormats have attitude! Seriously, would you be so bold as to put a message where visitors to your home wipe their feet that told them to "Get lost!" I've seen one like that and while I could see the vaguely humorous side, some people would take offense!

The Fine Line

So where is the line you shouldn't cross? What makes a funny message become a crude caption or offensive message?

The short answer is "It really depends on the recipient of the message!" In other words, that line is about as fluid and mobile as a tank of water full of fish! You simply cannot take a printed message and pigeon-hole it into a definite category simply because people are different.

Different people will have different ideas on what is acceptable to them or not. One person's rude doormat is another person's hilarious one. It sort of goers back the old saying that "you can't please everyone." No truer phrase was ever spoken.

Damage Limitation

In some respects, the safest way to play this would be to put out a boring, plain door mat so that you literally cannot offend anyone. No message means no individual interpretation on its meaning. That means no smiles and no frowns either.

Hang on buddy! That would make for a pretty boring world, if everyone was scared to do anything in case it might offend someone else.

I'm sure the politically correct brigade would like to see a totally gray and boring world where no one ever speaks, writes, laughs, cries or dares to do anything at all in case the tone of their voice or the posture of their body might carry an infinitesimal chance it might just offend someone!

Get Real

But phooey to that! Who wants to live like that; walking on eggshells and minding every word you say just because a bunch of boring lunatics that need to get out more have their heads jammed up their backsides!

Like is more about taking a few risks here and there. It doesn't matter if the risks are really minor, like in putting out a doormat with a caption that would be interpreted by most people as being funny.

So get some attitude going, be daring and put out a humorous doormat for your guests and enjoy making them smile (or most of them)!

I Only Wanted to Wipe My Feet

The strangest things happen to folks when they go visiting friends and family. Like encountering the odd humorous doormat to wipe their feet on! Anyone who ever found themselves in that situation would probably tell you they were literally stopped in their tracks!

I heard one guy the other day say, "I only wanted to wipe my feet, but as I looked down this funny looking silhouette image of a dog was staring back up at me with the caption, 'Beware: Our dog doesn't know sit' beside it!" He said it made him smile because his initial reaction was the "h" was missing out of the word "sit".

Meet and Greet with a Smile

Having a cleverly funny doormat to greet guests to your home is a great idea if you want to make sure you've gotten them into a good mood before they ring your doorbell. I love it that when I open the door to visitors they are already smiling broadly!

It's the best investment I ever made in my home and for the few dollars it cost me, I think it was totally worth it. In fact, when this mat wears out as I surely will do (maybe because I seem to be getting more visitors lately) I'll be getting a replacement with another caption or image that will bring even more smiles and the occasional chuckle to my doorstep!

What About Functionality?

I have even been asked by the occasional visitor if it was all right to wipe their feet on my mat! Imagine that! They were so wrapped up in getting a laugh out of what they were reading, they totally forgot what the mat was really there for!

Of course you can wipe your feet on that mat! It’s a doormat after all, is it not?

In case you want to be grossed out about why you even need a doormat, I came across this page about what's on the bottom of your shoes which is about the bacteria and microbes that are lurking under your shoes.

I have to say the mat I have on my doorstep is no different from most plain versions in terms of the toughness and coarseness of its fibers to do their job in cleaning the occasional debris from needy shoes and boots. You can get the soles of your shoes clean then step back and grin at the message staring back up at you!

Do You Want One?

Now that you have a pretty good idea of how much I like simplistically humorous doormats, I guess you're probably thinking to yourself that you ought to be getting one of your own. Well, don't let me stop you!

I bought mine online from Amazon and liked it so much I got a second one. That's because my first one simply wore out with so much extra traffic (in no doubt in part due to people wanting to read my mat's message), so I had to replace it with an even funnier one!

In fact, I like them so much, I made this none-too-serious blog about them so anyone that read it can decide for themselves that they want one or not. You can see a great selection of them by clicking one of the images in the right column on this page.