Something which has never occurred since time immemorial: a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap.From Sumeria, ca. 1900 BC. I think something of its je ne sais quois got lost in translation. Either that, or the art of the joke has come a loooong way.
This is from AOL's list of the 10 oldest jokes. Most of them leave you with a "guess you had to be there" feeling, but this, I thought, speaks volumes about the human condition even now:
Wishing to teach his donkey not to eat, a pedant did not offer him any food. When the donkey died of hunger, he said "I've had a great loss. Just when he had learned not to eat, he died." -- 4th to 5th century AD, dated to the 'Philogelos,' or 'Laughter-Lover,' the oldest extant jest bookThis reminds me of far too many people currently in charge of this country, corporations, and the educational system.
But it still made me giggle.
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Wishing to teach his donkey not to eat, a pedant did not offer him any food. When the donkey died of hunger, he said "I've had a great loss. Just when he had learned not to eat, he died."
-- 4th to 5th century AD, dated to the 'Philogelos,' or 'Laughter-Lover,' the oldest extant jest book
Heh. My step-dad used to tell me that joke. He'd be tickled to know it is one of the oldest recorded jokes.
Okay, when he told it, it was a horse, and he said it in modern vernacular, and he made the punchline work better to modern ears, but it was definitely the same joke.
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