Jokes: Where Do They Come From?

moultano · June 2005

<div class="IPBDescription">Have you ever had one catch on?</div> I'm not talking about the funny website links that get passed around every dorm room in the country in a second, or standup, or any of the late night talk shows. I'm wondering about the jokes that people tell to eachother that have an almost formal setup. I'm talking about the immediate superset of knock-knock jokes and goes-into-a-bar jokes etc.

Where do you think they come from? There are plenty of books full of them (usually mediocre) but do they originate there, or were they passed around beforehand and happened to just be aggregated? Have you ever made one up and had it catch on?

Cold_NiTe · June 2005

That's a good question but, with our media, it's really impossible to track isn't it?

Hydra · June 2005

All things considered, I imagine most original material is not really original. It goes down to what you classify as "original" because it can be said to just be a mix of a lot into something new.

AlienCow · June 2005

How would you describe the French town of Nice?

<b>Nice.</b>

See now thats caught on where I live. Only it was never funny and still isn't and I don't know why my mates keep saying it. Die.

Geminosity · June 2005

hmm... jokes? I've made sayings and nicknames for people a plenty that stuck like glue but I don't think I've ever made any sort of formal jokes, let alone any that spread :o

Isn't it the same as most things like that though? Someone with the right mix of wit and thinking came out with something and it ends up wriggling it's way into the fabric of society? :p

Metalcat · June 2005

maybe they have evovled from the earliest of the stoneage in a forever mutation

Fatal_Error · June 2005

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Metalcat @ Jun 21 2005, 03:01 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> maybe they have evovled from the earliest of the stoneage in a forever mutation  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
LIEK TEH SHIRK LOLOMG!

Metalcat · June 2005

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Fatal Error @ Jun 21 2005, 02:04 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> </div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Metalcat @ Jun 21 2005, 03:01 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> maybe they have evovled from the earliest of the stoneage in a forever mutation </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
LIEK TEH SHIRK LOLOMG! </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

doh nevermind..

Blobby · June 2005

My older brother came up with the "in bed" fortune cookie thing a while back with some of his Navy ship-mates. It was a Navy culture thing for a while that it spread to the rest of the country. Only took a year or 2 before it was known by almost everyone.

moultano · June 2005

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Blobby @ Jun 21 2005, 04:00 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> My older brother came up with the "in bed" fortune cookie thing a while back with some of his Navy ship-mates. It was a Navy culture thing for a while that it spread to the rest of the country. Only took a year or 2 before it was known by almost everyone.  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
Never heard of it. Explain?

Cyndane · June 2005

Moultano, I think when he says "rest of the country" he is referring to a particular region, there aren't many "jokes" that remain the same throughout the entire country, unless they are part of some comedy tour. *cough*bluecollar*cough*

Sirus · June 2005

I think what Cyndane is trying to say is, "git 'r done !" (Corrected by Cyndane <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /> )

And Moultano, the way the "In bed" fortune cookie thing works is that at the end of the every fortune cookie you add, "In bed" so, an example would be, "Your friends think very highly of you." Then you add "in bed" to make ! : "Your friends think very highly of you, <b>in bed!</b>.

MedHead · June 2005

I think the majority of jokes found in books are written by a writer or team of writers that are hired to come up with jokes, just like televison and film script writers.

OttoDestruct · June 2005

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (MedHead @ Jun 21 2005, 04:53 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I think the majority of jokes found in books are written by a writer or team of writers that are hired to come up with jokes, just like televison and film script writers.  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
According to family guy, Optimus Prime is a rabbi. I believe it.

Cyndane · June 2005

Correction Sirus, "Git r Done"

Steel_Troll · June 2005

Confuscious make joke, scribe writes jokes audience roffles ;EOF

CMEast · June 2005

It has seemed that on a couple of occasions I've said something and, within a few months, everyone seems to have picked up on it.

However, I just tend to presume that I must have heard it subconsciously or something, I'm not quite arrogant enough to think I influence entire generations..

SinSpawn · June 2005

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (moultano @ Jun 21 2005, 04:36 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I'm talking about the immediate superset of knock-knock jokes and goes-into-a-bar jokes etc.

Where do you think they come from?  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
..people sitting in bars?

Jokes: Where Do They Come From?

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