"The wife always has the last word." Wedding Speech Twist.

It was bad enough that none of my friends, and only my mother from among my relatives, could come to my wedding. My wife-to-be and I were from different countries.

A friend of my father-in-law gave a lame speech trying to make light of our different nationalities. It ended with a pearl that appealed to the stereotypes often assigned to my fellow countrymen. He said, "I don't know how it is in your country, but here the wife always has the last word."

What was I supposed to say? Luckily I remembered an old joke which I was able to paraphrase. I said, "Well, maybe here the wife always has the last word but, in my country, the husband always has the last word." I paused for effect and looked at the faces of the guests, staring in disbelief.

I concluded, "and this last word is, invariably, "yes dear."

Everybody laughed, much to my relief.