what's so funny about "Enron"?
Here is a conversation between Monica and Chandler in the TV sitcom Friends:

[Monica: I haven't seen my savings take a hit like this since I was a kid and they came up with Double Stuf Oreos. What happened to all our money?
Chandler: Well, I'm not sure exactly what they did, but I'm inclined to blame Enron.]

i looked Enron up and now i know it was one of the world's major electricity, natural gas companies and went bankrupt in 2001. But i still don't get the joke. the audience were laughing when chandler said this. could you please help me and tell me why? Are people in America inclined to blame some bankrupt company when they are short on cash? are there any stories hidden in the line?

thanks a million:)

Question

what's so funny about "Enron"?
Here is a conversation between Monica and Chandler in the TV sitcom Friends:

[Monica: I haven't seen my savings take a hit like this since I was a kid and they came up with Double Stuf Oreos. What happened to all our money?
Chandler: Well, I'm not sure exactly what they did, but I'm inclined to blame Enron.]

i looked Enron up and now i know it was one of the world's major electricity, natural gas companies and went bankrupt in 2001. But i still don't get the joke. the audience were laughing when chandler said this. could you please help me and tell me why? Are people in America inclined to blame some bankrupt company when they are short on cash? are there any stories hidden in the line?

thanks a million:)

Answer

Enron was constantly in the news at that time due to their scandal which led to their bankruptcy. Some executives were found guilty of wrongdoings, and a few were even sentenced to prison. Lots of people lost a lot of money and their shareholders were very angry about it. So the company was made out to be 'the bad guy' and portrayed as a greedy corporation on television, newspapers, etc.

The joke in this context is that Chandler jumped on the bandwagon and blamed Enron, even though his problems had absolutely nothing to do with Enron, and also despite the fact that he didn't understand anything about the scandal.

Hope that helps.

Answer

hi Missshanghai,

You need to read about the 'Enron Scandal', and what happened to their employees and shareholders. I think you might get the joke then:)

Basically, everyone except the top executives lost a LOT of money.

Here is a link to the wiki, specifically the 'employees and shareholders' section:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron_scandal#Employees_and_shareholders

I hope that helps!
Gina