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World's oldest joke traced back to 1900 BC

Written by Staff Writer
Monday, 04 August 2008
LONDON -- The world's oldest recorded joke has been traced back to 1900 BC and suggests toilet humor was as popular with the ancients as it is today. It 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 Thursday. 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? Answer: A key." There are also tricky jokes such as when two popes meet, what do they talk about? The answer is there is only one pope. Recent jokes included George W. Bush, who almost died on a pretzel watching television. He was on the verge of death after the pretzel was stuck in his throat and saw Osama Bin Laden clad in the Angel of Death clothing taking his life away. Lucky for him that his security officers manage to pull the pretzel out by kicking Bush on his butts, says the joke. Another joke on Bill Clinton is that he is a clingon and they call him Bill Clingon - as in the Star Trek series. He is also said to have a hard drive without any memory for his alleged involvement with Monica Lewinsky, the Jewish pin-up girl who distracted his second term as President of the US. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Show/Hide comments Write comment Name Email Website Title Comment Write the displayed characters Powered by Azrul's Jom Comment

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