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August 01, 2003

Joke Adaption

When I was a kid, all the jokes were about the Irish:

Q. How do you confuse an Irishman? A. Put three spades against a tree and tell him to take his pick!

Then as I got older, the same jokes were told about blondes:

Q. How do you confuse a blonde? A. Put her in a round room and tell her to sit in the corner?

Occasionally an event in the international scene would change things. After the assasination of the Indian Prime Minister we got:

Q. How do you confuse a Seikh? A. Give him a piece of paper with PTO (Please Turn Over) on both sides

Really the nationality or hair colour has nothing to do with the joke. It just provides a context to run the joke against. Well one of the oldest jokes I can remember hearing as a child was this one:

There was an Irishman who went to work with one red sock and one green sock. Somebody stopped him and said "You've got one red sock and one green sock on". The Irishman smiled and responded "Yes, and I have another pair like this at home...."

Over time, the Irishman became a blonde and then when my Grandpa went to India on a mission, the first joke he heard was this one with a Sikh instead. What is the point to this long rambling entry?

I just received this in an email (thanks Andrew):

François, a Frenchman, went to work with one red sock and one blue sock. Somebody stopped him and said "You've got one red sock and one blue sock on". François smiled and responded "Oui, and I have another pair like this at home...."

Posted by Peskie at August 1, 2003 12:00 PM