A blue knitted baby bootie rests beside a muddy paw print on a small red rug.

Original artwork, not a still

Rita Rudner

My husband and I are either going to buy a dog or have a child. We can't decide to ruin our carpet or ruin our lives.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

A joke about how both choices are equally messy. A dog would wreck the carpet, and a child would upend a whole life, but the speaker weighs them as if the stakes were the same. The humour comes from treating flooring and life-changing decisions as equals.

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