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World's Oldest Joke Uncovered by Boffins
by Christina 123 | July 31, 2008 at 03:28 pm | 367 views | 5 comments | 10 recommendations
It has today been revealed that academics have discovered the world's oldest joke. It is 1,000 years old and was unearthed at Exeter Cathedral in a book of 10th Century Anglo-Saxon poetry.
They found the wry observation in the Codex Exoniensis, a 10th century book of Anglo-Saxon poetry held at Exeter Cathedral.
It reads: “What hangs at a man’s thigh and wants to poke the hole that it’s often poked before?’ Answer: A key.”
Scouring ancient texts, researchers from Wolverhampton University found the jokes laid down in delicate manuscripts and carved into stone tablets up to three thousand years old.
Dr Paul MacDonald, a comic novelist and lecturer in creative writing, said ancient civilizations laughed about much the same things as we do today.
He said jokes ancient and modern shared “a willingness to deal with taboos and a degree of rebellion.”
July 31, 2008 at 03:28 pm by Christina 123, 367 views, 5 comments
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
at 15:35 on July 31st, 2008
Very interesting. Thanx for the post Christina123
at 15:46 on July 31st, 2008
Thanks, JeffHuang! Bit sacreligious, though, I would have thought, for a cathedral. The vicar will be shocked ;)
at 15:59 on July 31st, 2008
That's hilarious! I love finds like that!
at 16:01 on July 31st, 2008
Christina 123, I like this story. It's good stuff. Having read through the original article, I am very surpised that they laugh at the same types of jokes we do today. I thought over the years society and the way jokes are represented have changed. But I am wrong.
at 10:59 on August 1st, 2008
I often stumble across jokes in literature; not to mention the obvious ones, such as Chaucer & Shakespeare (probably the greatest wit of them all) John Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_ is incredibly funny and so is Plato's _Symposium_.