I’m not sure whether the ambiguity you’re referring to is (1) the black paint / black skin one (which I mention in my other comment) or (2) something else.
If (1), I flatly disagree that that ambiguity is essential to (or even relevant to) the joke. I think Alice is expecting Bob and Carol to understand “black” as meaning “for black people” right from the outset.
If (2), then I’m not sure whether you mean (a) something to do with the alleged criminality of black people, or (b) something else.
If (a), then I think you misunderstand what I’m doing with the comparison. (Also, I don’t think “there is no ambiguity here” is a good way of describing the difference between the two jokes.)
If (b), then perhaps you could do me the favour of explaining more clearly what you have in mind, because in case (2b) I have clearly failed to grasp it.
I should justify “I think you misunderstand what I’m doing with the comparison”. (Here I’m assuming we’re in case 2a.) I’m not saying “the black-people version of the joke isn’t funny, because the pianist version of the joke isn’t funny and there are no relevant differences between them”. I’m saying “since the pianist version of the joke is uncontroversially not-funny, any funniness in the black-people version of the joke must depend on what’s different about the two versions of the joke”—more specifically, I think it depends mostly on the idea that black people are criminals—which is relevant because you claimed that (apparently as a matter of objective fact) the black-person version of the joke “is funny”, and I don’t think that’s an accurate way to describe something whose funniness is completely dependent on particular ideas or attitudes that many people don’t hold.
People who think that pianists are criminals would (I think) find the pianist version of the joke about as funny as people who think that black people are criminals find the black-people version. The difference isn’t in (what I at least would call) the structure of the joke, it’s in the context that makes certain aspects of the structure salient.
I’m not sure whether the ambiguity you’re referring to is (1) the black paint / black skin one (which I mention in my other comment) or (2) something else.
If (1), I flatly disagree that that ambiguity is essential to (or even relevant to) the joke. I think Alice is expecting Bob and Carol to understand “black” as meaning “for black people” right from the outset.
If (2), then I’m not sure whether you mean (a) something to do with the alleged criminality of black people, or (b) something else.
If (a), then I think you misunderstand what I’m doing with the comparison. (Also, I don’t think “there is no ambiguity here” is a good way of describing the difference between the two jokes.)
If (b), then perhaps you could do me the favour of explaining more clearly what you have in mind, because in case (2b) I have clearly failed to grasp it.
I should justify “I think you misunderstand what I’m doing with the comparison”. (Here I’m assuming we’re in case 2a.) I’m not saying “the black-people version of the joke isn’t funny, because the pianist version of the joke isn’t funny and there are no relevant differences between them”. I’m saying “since the pianist version of the joke is uncontroversially not-funny, any funniness in the black-people version of the joke must depend on what’s different about the two versions of the joke”—more specifically, I think it depends mostly on the idea that black people are criminals—which is relevant because you claimed that (apparently as a matter of objective fact) the black-person version of the joke “is funny”, and I don’t think that’s an accurate way to describe something whose funniness is completely dependent on particular ideas or attitudes that many people don’t hold.
People who think that pianists are criminals would (I think) find the pianist version of the joke about as funny as people who think that black people are criminals find the black-people version. The difference isn’t in (what I at least would call) the structure of the joke, it’s in the context that makes certain aspects of the structure salient.