Any of you read David Sedaris’ very funny reflections, Me Talk Pretty One Day?

Well, I am not sure why that emerged as an appropriate title for this, but Diane and I schlepped up to the Tahoe house for the Thanksgiving holiday (rest of family will start arriving tomorrow) and we were watching Life of Brian (watching Brian, or The Holy Grail when we get here is part of the ritual for us).

Of course I was cracking up, as I think Life of Brian is not just one of the funniest–and best–movies ever, but I felt strongly that before America engaged in any invasions of Iraq or Afghanistan, every American should watch the film (and then keep watching it once a week until we were out of the middle east).

That is because the issues in that region are indeed 6000 years old, and, well, they run deep and silly. But, as the “Biggus Dickus” scene popped on, it made me wonder why it is so extra funny when characters are speaking the same language, and yet still cannot understand one another.

Not to mention, maybe such language miscues really get to the heart of human problems: that we simply don’t listen or hear to one another.

Here are some pretty good cinematic examples of this, starting with the oh so brilliant Pythons.

Yet another favorite, and perhaps the greatest parody of all time (sorry Spinal Tap), this scene also completely kills me.

While Father of the Bride does not even close to rank in a favorites list, this scene with Franck (Martin Short) does always get me, especially in the sense that the women totally get Franck, and poor, flustered Steve Martin has no clue. (I know this scene is pretty much ripped from the original, with Elizabeth Taylor and Spencer Tracy, but I like this sequence better.)