Conversation:

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

she sells sea shells by the sea shore.

are these strictly american?

No, they're unfunny in every country.

peter piper picked a peck of pickeled pepper. if peter ppiper picked a peck of pickled pepper then wheres the peck of pickled pepper that peter piper picked?

that just annoys me.

how about this:
sasha schellenberg shot misha saakashvili
the funniest thing about that is that i just uttered that phrase in my daily meeting at work, no pun intended
(i work for a newspaper: sasha schellenberg is a photographer, and 'shot' mikhail saakashvili, the new president of georgia, with a camera.)
and i've just realized that it sounds almost as funny in russian.. actually even more so:
sasha shellenberg snimala misha saakashvili sevodnya

I just had one of those at work the other day, too. Karen Kress of Cardiovascular Consultants in Canton is calling. o...kay. Try saying that ten times fast...