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31 Jul 08 - 03:11 AM (#2401974) Subject: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: Helen Click for the 'PermaThread™: List of all joke threads'Alternative title for this thread is First joke thread for 1900 BC 'World's oldest joke' traced back to 1900 BC The world's oldest recorded joke has been traced back to 1900 BC and suggests toilet humour was as popular with the ancients as it is today, British academics say. The joke is a saying of the Sumerians, who lived in what is now southern Iraq, and goes: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap." It heads the world's Oldest Top 10 joke list published by the University of Wolverhampton. A 1600 BC gag about a pharaoh, said to be King Snofru, comes second. "How do you entertain a bored pharaoh? You sail a boatload of young women dressed only in fishing nets down the Nile and urge the pharaoh to go catch a fish." The oldest British joke dates back to the 10th century and reveals the bawdy face of the Anglo-Saxons. "What hangs at a man's thigh and wants to poke the hole that it's often poked before? A key." "Jokes have varied over the years, with some taking the question and answer format while others are witty proverbs or riddles," said the report's writer, Dr Paul McDonald, a senior lecturer at the university. "What they all share however is a willingness to deal with taboos and a degree of rebellion. Modern puns, Essex girl jokes and toilet humour can all be traced back to the very earliest jokes identified in this research." The study was commissioned by UK television channel Dave. - Reuters What this shows me is that the context may change but the humour remains pretty much the same, or "same joke, different day/year/century/millenium". Helen |
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31 Jul 08 - 09:11 AM (#2402153) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: Rapparee I heard the Anglo-Saxon riddle back in the '60s...the 1960s CE, that is. |
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31 Jul 08 - 09:14 AM (#2402158) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: The Walrus Helen wrote on 31 Jul 08 - 03:11 AM "...The oldest British joke dates back to the 10th century and reveals the bawdy face of the Anglo-Saxons. "What hangs at a man's thigh and wants to poke the hole that it's often poked before? A key."..." This reminds me of a riddle from around the same period. In translation it runs roughly: "I'm a strange creature, for I satisfy women, a service to the neighbours. No one suffers at my hands except for my slayer. I grow erect in a bed, I'm hairy underneath. From time to time, a beautiful girl, The brave daughter of some churl Dares to hold me, Grips my russet skin,robs me of my head and puts me in the pantry. At once, that girl with plaited hair who has confined me, remembers our meeting Her eye moistens." The answer being, An Onion. W |
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31 Jul 08 - 01:43 PM (#2402435) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: Bill D Many years ago, I read that this 'joke' had been found on a wall at Pompeii: Barber:" Sir, did you have a red shirt when you came in?" Customer: "No, why?" Barber: "Then I'm afraid I have cut your throat." I have NO idea about the veracity of that one. |
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31 Jul 08 - 02:26 PM (#2402464) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: GUEST,Jack the Sailor "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap." I think this might have actually been an ad from an ancient beef council discouraging the consumption of beans. |
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31 Jul 08 - 02:28 PM (#2402468) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: Peace I would posit that the oldest joke begins, "The Lord God told me . . .". |
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31 Jul 08 - 04:10 PM (#2402538) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: Helen This news item reminds me of a very interesting documentary series where John Romer was showing in detail a village where the workers and artisans lived who built some of the pyramids of Egypt. In one episode he showed the graffiti on the rock walls near the village, e.g. who was shagging someone else wife, who had anatomy of exceptionally large or small size, all the usual stuff except that it was carved in the rock thousands of years ago. I also remember reading some of the Anglo Saxon verses, were they called Gnomic Verses, or something else- can't remember, this was 30 years ago. I was struggling to translate them so I didn't read all of them. I was probably only referred to the nicer ones, because my lecturer was a true gentleman. I'll have to hunt out the book and have another go at it. Helen |
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31 Jul 08 - 05:41 PM (#2402605) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: GUEST,Simon If that was the best joke of the Sumerians, I hope none of them gave up their day job. |
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31 Jul 08 - 05:53 PM (#2402611) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: The Fooles Troupe "I would posit that the oldest joke begins, "The Lord God told me . . .". " That would be only the oldest Jewish Joke.... |
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31 Jul 08 - 09:06 PM (#2402737) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: Joe_F I once read that every culture that has invented nails has the joke about the carpenter who threw away half the nails because the heads were on the wrong end. (In some versions the boss tell him to save them for the other side of the house.) Likewise, it seems, every culture that fishes has the one about the fisherman who puts a mark on the floor of the boat to mark the place where the fish are biting. Foolishness is at least as old as sex, and each leads to the other. |
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31 Jul 08 - 09:08 PM (#2402740) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: Little Hawk It wasn't their best joke, Simon, it's just the only one that has survived from that early period. Another example of the power of mass marketing. The scum rises to the top. ;-) Just think, 25,000 years from now all they will be able to find of this civilization's attempts at humor will be one ancient TV episode of "Three's Company"! They will conclude that we were all complete idiots. |
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01 Aug 08 - 02:53 AM (#2402858) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: Helen Little Hawk, you beat me to it: the only joke which survived. Similar to the "World's Funniest Joke" - it's funny to people from a lot of countries/cultures, so it perhaps should be labelled (one of) the World's Most Transferable/Transportable Jokes. It doesn't mean it's the funniest in the world. |
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01 Aug 08 - 02:57 AM (#2402859) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: The Fooles Troupe ... and you think they would be far from wrong? :-) |
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01 Aug 08 - 06:31 PM (#2403321) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: GUEST,Parmesan is funny cheese ...wonder if she blamed it on the dog... d'oh! |
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01 Aug 08 - 06:34 PM (#2403323) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: GUEST,Parmesan is funny cheese I wonder if the Three's Company episode will be the one where there was some sort of misunderstanding.... (drum roll) |
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02 Aug 08 - 05:23 AM (#2403531) Subject: RE: BS: World's oldest joke - 1900 BC From: Don(Wyziwyg)T Trust me....I'm a politician. Don T. |