And there’s meaning in that universality.ĭean: Yeah. (1) What does the Sumerian dog-in-a-bar joke mean? (2) And why does it matter? Why do so many people online and in academia - why do so many care about confirming that it’s a joke and solving its meaning?īen: Yeah, because we want to know why we all think it’s a joke, right? There’s something about it that feels universal, which feels like a good joke. That reason starts, though, with the big questions from the last episode. The reason I bring you this terrible chimp joke will become clear in a moment. The humor from last episode has not improved.īen: No, you’ve converted it all from dog humor to chimp humor.ĭean: Anyway, I promise that is my one-and-only joke. It’s called a chimp off the old block.īen: Ah, Dean! We walked right into that one.ĭean: So, yeah, I have. Phil: I’m team “Humorous Sayings.” So maybe we’re talking Seinfeld rather than Bob Hope.ĭean: Do either of you know what a baby chimpanzee is called?ĭean: It’s a very technical term. Philip Jones: (Door opens.) This is the tablet room. Amory’s behind the wheel.īen: I don’t know, you tell me. Quiana Scott-Ferguson: What can a dog open? They don’t have thumbs.īen: So we’re blasting down the highway. I shall open this,’” or “‘this one.’”ĭan Mauzy: I don’t get it. And he said,” - probably - “‘I cannot see anything. Seraina: In English, that means something like, “A dog entered into a tavern. Seraina: So in Sumerian it reads: “ur-gir-re ec-dam-ce in-kur-ma. Anyway, enjoy the show.Īmory Sivertson: Last time on Endless Thread … If you missed the first episode, go back and listen to that. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.īen Brock Johnson: Hey folks, you’re listening to Part II of our story on the origin of jokes and humor. The transcript has been edited from our original script for clarity. This content was originally created for audio. Everyone who makes a monthly donation will get access to exclusive bonus content. If you want that too, we would deeply appreciate your contribution to our work in any amount. We love making Endless Thread, and we want to be able to keep making it far into the future. The mystery of what makes a joke funny - but only to some people ( The Conversation).Play vocalisations and human laughter: a comparative review ( Bioacoustics).Evolution, Structure, and Functions of Human Laughter ( The Handbook of Communication Science and Biology).Depths of Wikipedia’s tweet about “one of the earliest bar jokes” (Twitter).The first part of Endless Thread’s two-part series, “Jokes, Part I: Sumer Funny, Sumer Not”. ![]() Mixer and sound designer: Emily Jankowski Show producers: Megan Cattel, Dean Russell, Nora Saks, Grace Tatter, Kristin Torres, and Quincy Walters Credits:Ĭo-hosts: Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson In this episode, the second of two parts, Endless Thread continues its journey attempting to deconstruct the beginnings of humor and explain an unexplainable joke from the forgotten tablets of the past. Last year, two scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, suggested that laughter, humor’s sibling, may have begun emerging before humans 100 million years ago. The answers to both questions are complicated and still being sorted out by historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, evolutionary biologists, and neuroscientists. They also raise questions about when - and how - humor first emerged. I’ll open this one.’” Hilarious, right?Īs cryptic as some of these jokes can be, they offer clues into humor’s role in human civilizations. For instance, the first known bar joke reads: “A dog walked into a tavern and said, ‘I can’t see a thing. Written in Sumerian on clay tablets, these ancient jokes are often so rooted in a forgotten culture that their meaning has been lost. ![]() Roughly 4,000 years ago, scribes in southern Mesopotamia copied the first documented jokes in history. The story appears in podcast feeds under the title, “ Jokes, Part II: Stand Up.” Listen to part one first. This is the second episode of a two-part series on the origin of jokes and humor. I’ll open this one.’” (Courtesy of the Penn Museum/Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative) In English, it translates as, “A dog walks into a bar and says, ‘I cannot see a thing. An ancient tablet with a Sumerian bar joke.
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