Ship of Fools: Adam's companion

Thread: Adam's companion Board: The Laugh Judgment / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Simon (# 1) on :

Joke submitted by Master Tubby Bear:

Adam is sitting in the Garden of Eden and feeling lonely.

God comes to him and says, "I have just the thing for you. I will make you a companion, called Woman. Her beauty will be beyond compare. Her wisdom will be deeper than the deepest ocean. Her love for you will be beyond understanding. But it'll cost you. I'll need all your front teeth, an arm, a leg and a kidney."

Adam thinks for a moment and says, "What do I get for a rib?"

[ 13. July 2005, 11:02: Message edited by: Simon ]

Posted by Boreal (# 9550) on :

Offensive, but not religiously so. I think it just makes men look cheap and shallow, and women inferior to the original description offered (which is of course the point of the joke). Not funny.

Posted by Newman's Own (# 420) on :

I thought this one was rather stupid, not funny, but not particularly offensive.

The theme of how inferior woman is to what she could have been indeed would be offensive if this joke were not, in my opinion, at 'school yard' level. What I found more annoying was the implication (which was very much a part of my early religious education!) that God has to afflict us or take away whatever good he gave us for us to get any benefit.

Posted by Custard. (# 5402) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Boreal:
Offensive, but not religiously so. I think it just makes men look cheap and shallow, and women inferior to the original description offered (which is of course the point of the joke). Not funny.

Men - cheap and shallow? Check
Women - inferior to original description offered? Check

don't see what the problem is here.

Posted by The Coot (# 220) on :

Well, I laughed. But I don't think I'd repeat it in the hearing of my female friends. I spose I'd repeat to straight male friends and we would laugh, bringing to mind women in our lives and particular womanly things about them that drive us mad... It plays on traditional (and somewhat stereotypical) male-female friction due to differences in the sexes, I think. (Hate them but love them) How affectionate this is depends on the teller.

Posted by Marquis (# 9750) on :

Quite funny in a taboo kind of way. I think it would work better if the sacrifice Adam is required to give would be more sexually personal, such as one of his testicles.

But then, I'm a rather unsophisticated kind of guy.

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :

Lame, but truthful; neither funny nor offensive.

Posted by Pyx_e (# 57) on :

Hosting

Sir Kevin are you ignoring me? In particular this post.

Pyx_e

Hosting

Posted by Demas (# 7147) on :

I heard this told by an elderly minister at a sorta-marriage ceremony (that is, it was a Christian girl marrying a Jewish man, and the 'real' marriage was a Jewish/secular one to come later).

The minister was trying to be friendly, mentioning the shared prophets between the two religions. I think he threw this joke in to lighten the proceedings and put us all in a good mood.

When he told this joke (young) people all around me were swearing at the old guy under their breath - it provoked a seemingly universally mocking and hostile reaction.

On the other hand, knowing these people, the other jokes on this board would have not got that reaction.

Posted by Newman's Own (# 420) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Demas:
When he told this joke (young) people all around me were swearing at the old guy under their breath - it provoked a seemingly universally mocking and hostile reaction.

I have noticed that most of the jokes posted on the board are quite old - in fact, they well may have been so when I first heard them, which seems like a lifetime ago.

Recently, I saw some 'old jokes' which Fulton Sheen used to tell in his talks. None were offensive, but it is difficult to belief he was considered a great wit based on these, because they now seem 'flat.' (For example, a priest hears confessions of five boys in a row who confess to throwing peanuts in the lake - the sixth admits "I'm Peanuts." It was an era when many people routinely made confession each week - today, dumb though the joke is, it would start someone moaning about how the Roman church is guilty of sacerdotalism and controlling people's consciences...)

Though this is not a joke I'm likely to repeat, I think that it would have been funnier had I heard it some years ago, when it would have been a commentary more on Adam's preoccupation and God's testing him. In recent decades, the emphasis (within the Church) on poor or degrading attitudes towards women has been so central that this would not be a joke to tell at the parish social!

Posted by Demas (# 7147) on :

I think that shifts in public opinion matter, both from the humour and the offensiveness perspective.

I don't find Charlie Chapman funny - but when he first appeared on the screen he became a superstar.

I remember finding an old joke book in my grandfather's house when I was young, and many of the jokes were either simply not funny, or offensive (lots of ethnic stereotypes, miserly Jews etc).

In the case of this joke, I think that part of the problem was that it was told by a minister. The expectation is that clergy are sexist and bigoted - anything which seems to confirm that is a justification for hatred.

That is, I would be more likely to be offended by the racism in a joke if it were told by the leader of the KKK than if it were told by Lenny Henry.

(Sometime afterwards I told the joke to my father, who would be about the age of the minister. He thought it very funny.)

Posted by Zeke (# 3271) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Demas:
I don't find Charlie Chapman funny - but when he first appeared on the screen he became a superstar.

Could you possibly mean Charlie Chaplin?
[Roll Eyes]

Unless I am completely mistaken, and there is some superstar named Charlie Chapman that I have never heard of--I've been wrong before.

[ 14. July 2005, 06:07: Message edited by: Zeke ]

Posted by Ophthalmos (# 3256) on :

It's not funny because it's not universal because it's having a go at women in a way which isn't true anyway etc. etc. etc.

I'd quite like to see a "gender joke" which was actually fun, but I don't think they actually exist. Men are men. Women are women. There's not really a joke to be had from it, in my view.

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