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Fri, 01 Aug 2008

Sumerians cracked world's oldest joke

My favorite ancient jokes are the Anglo-Saxon riddles from the Exeter Book - here's a taste:

I am a wonderful help to women
The hope of something good to come
I harm only my slayer
I grow very tall, erect in a bed
I am shaggy down below
The lovely girl grabs my body, rubs my red skin
Holds me hard, claims my head.
That girl will feel our meeting!
I bring tears to her eyes!
What am I?

The answer? It's an onion, of course. Where was your mind!

UKTV has published what it claims to be the world's oldest joke - a Sumerian rib-tickler dating back to 1,900 BC which goes: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap."

/Humor | 3 writebacks | permanent link

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On 8/1/2008 10:23:11
Ben Waggoner wrote

Exeter Book Riddle 54 (my translation). . . So this guy walks in, and goes over to the corner where he knew she’d be standing. This strong fellow (who hailed from afar) hiked his own clothes up with his hands, and under her girdle he stuck a stiff. . . something, as she stood right there. He worked his will; they both wiggled and shook. The fellow hurried— he had his uses! Still, this strong and steadfast servant grew weary of the work, wore out every time sooner than she did. Something began to grow under her girdle which good men often prize in their minds and pay for dearly.

On 8/5/2008 08:19:57
Analemma wrote

a loom?

On 8/5/2008 21:03:31
Ben Waggoner wrote

Nope. A butter churn -- or so most scholars solve it. The "stiff something" under the "girdle" is the handle, which is phallically plunged up and down, and which gets more and more exhausting to move as the butter begins to form. . . Get it?

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