Ship of Fools: A priest at the races

Thread: A priest at the races Board: The Laugh Judgment / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Simon (# 1) on :

Joke submitted by Ruth T:

Jimmy went out for a day at the races. Early in the day, just before a race, he saw a Catholic priest in the enclosure blessing one of the horses. In the subsequent race, the horse that was blessed won.

Jimmy thought this was interesting, so he watched the priest carefully as he went into the enclosure before the next race and blessed a horse. Jimmy went straight to the tote and put £50 on that horse, and sure enough it won. Jimmy kept on following the priest around and every horse the priest blessed, Jimmy backed it and it won its race.

Towards the end of the day, Jimmy went off to the bank and withdrew his life savings. On the last race, Jimmy watched the priest carefully, put his life savings on the horse he'd seen being blessed, and... the horse came in last.

Jimmy was devastated, and approached the priest. "That horse you blessed in the last race," he said, "it came last. What went wrong?"

"That's the trouble with you Protestants," said the priest. "You can't tell the difference between a blessing and the Last Rites."

[ 27. July 2005, 09:03: Message edited by: Simon ]

Posted by Flausa (# 3466) on :

In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, "It's funny, because it's true."

Posted by Henry Troup (# 3722) on :

One of the few I haven't heard before, by the way. A good twist, and not telegraphed.

Posted by Esmeralda (# 582) on :

Not at all offensive, because it doesn't ridicule any aspect of religion - except in trading on a certain link between Catholics, horses and betting... And quite funny too, because the punch line isn't predictable.

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :

Never heard it before; thought it was hilarious. Punchline a surprise.

I don't see the connection between Catholics and betting. I'm Catholic and don't gamble.

Posted by Mousethief (# 953) on :

I thought it was solely playing on the Protestant's ignorance of Catholic rites -- I didn't see any connection between Catholicism and betting at all. After all, in the joke the only person we know is wagering on the horses is the Protestant.

Posted by Pax Romana (# 4653) on :

This one is funny.

I didn't get any connection, either, between Catholicism and gambling. I'm Catholic, too, and I just thought it poked gentle fun at some of our practices, and the punch line is a good one.

I wonder how many of the older Americans among us have fallen down laughing while listening to Tom Lehrer's "The Vatican Rag." I know I did.

It is possible to be pious and still able to laugh at ourselves.

Pax Romana

Posted by Marquis (# 9750) on :

I think it is interesting as a joke. Given that this is in essence a dig at us poor stupid prots, I am interested to note that the usual issues of telling anti-catholic or anti-semetic jokes do not apply. No-one seems bothered by the bias expressed in this joke, as if us CofE types are just naturally going to grin and bear with such sentiments.

I thought it was bloody funny.

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

Good one, probably the best yet and if I have heard it before I have forgotten it.

The link betwen Catholic priests and betting is of course Ireland. Ireland used to export priests but the bloodstock (racehorse breeding) industry is huge. Irish priests regard it as patritic duty to support the cause, especially at Cheltenham in March.

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