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Source: (consider it) Thread: Popular man
Simon

Editor
# 1

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Joke submitted by Stuart Croy, Tom, derrick, notnotnot, HAPPY_Squirrel and The Lord Almighty:

Why did the ladies love Jesus?

[stretch out arms]

Because he was hung like this!

[ 08. July 2005, 11:51: Message edited by: Simon ]

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Eternal memory

Posts: 3787 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2001  |  IP: Logged
mousethief

Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953

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I get it, but don't find it terribly amusing (or offensive). Maybe it's my inner grammar curmudgeon that keeps saying, "Hanged, not hung."

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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...

Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001  |  IP: Logged
The Scrumpmeister
Ship’s Taverner
# 5638

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I can see how this could be funny, but it doesn't really work, for, as Mousethief points out, it relies on the incorrect use of a word.

A pun works when there are two meanings to the same word. In this case, hung and hanged are not the same, and so it just fails, which is a shame.

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If Christ is not fully human, humankind is not fully saved. - St John of Saint-Denis

Posts: 14741 | From: Greater Manchester, UK | Registered: Mar 2004  |  IP: Logged
RuthW

liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13

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"Hung" doesn't bother me a bit--the local dialect here accepts "hung" as the past participle of "hang" even when we're taking about hangings. I don't think the joke works because the directions are wrong--hung with arms outstretched is horizontal and indicating well-hung seems like it ought to be a vertical motion, or maybe arms making a big circle. In any case, there's not enough of a connection between the two senses of the word "hung" here.

I wonder why it's "ladies" instead of girls, women or some other word. Because of the alliteration in "ladies love"?

Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
radclyffe hall
Shipmate
# 4560

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not funny - don't know why, perhaps it relies on visual image too much -

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I have the blues badder than a blind, bald, one-legged man sitting alone on a Mississippi veranda nursing a three-string guitar, an empty bottle of Jack Daniel's and a grudge

Posts: 247 | From: the mysterious east | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
Marvin the Martian

Interplanetary
# 4360

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quote:
Originally posted by radcliffe hall:
perhaps it relies on visual image too much -

I think it would be much funnier if told in person, with arms outstretched. It's all about the timing of when the teller stretches his arms - for maximum effect it should be on "this", rather than before starting the punchline.

And aren't we talking about him being hung from a cross, rather than hanged by the neck?

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Hail Gallaxhar

Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged
The Scrumpmeister
Ship’s Taverner
# 5638

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quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
I wonder why it's "ladies" instead of girls, women or some other word. Because of the alliteration in "ladies love"?

I suppose so. It's all the expressions that include the word: "Ladies' man", "popular with the ladies", &c.

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If Christ is not fully human, humankind is not fully saved. - St John of Saint-Denis

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John Donne

Renaissance Man
# 220

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It's a bit puerile really, isn't it?

Maybe it is funny to some ppl because it deals with a sexual element? Maybe because the 'hungness' is done to excess. People find exaggerated things funny sometimes... Maybe there is a bit of shock value in associating sexuality with Jesus?

Posts: 13667 | From: Perth, W.A. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Marvin the Martian

Interplanetary
# 4360

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Also, I love the way it takes the piss out of that hideous statement:

How much does Jesus love the world?

[stretches out arms]

This much.

[Projectile]

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Hail Gallaxhar

Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged
Eliab
Shipmate
# 9153

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quote:
Originally posted by The Coot:
Maybe it is funny to some ppl because it deals with a sexual element?

Well, yes.

Sex is funny. Hadn't you noticed?

Slightly offensive (the crucifixion not really a proper subject for joking) but funnier than it is offensive. Sexual puns are just irreducibly amusing a sufficiently puerile mind. Like mine.

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"Perhaps there is poetic beauty in the abstract ideas of justice or fairness, but I doubt if many lawyers are moved by it"

Richard Dawkins

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Ogre
Shipmate
# 4601

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The joke makes me feel uneasy somehow: I would not know how to react if someone told me the joke in a conspiratorial way in a pub, for example. I don't like jokes about the crucifixion, which I suppose I do consider either blasphemous or in bad taste, which is often almost the same thing, if offence is intended. It's a weak joke, anyway. [Votive]

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Pete Ergo Religionem

['Therefore Seek a Way of Life']

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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492

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I won't dignify this one with an answer except to say not funny and extremely offensive. We're not 13 years old anymore!

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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.

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John Donne

Renaissance Man
# 220

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quote:
Originally posted by Ogre:
The joke makes me feel uneasy somehow: I would not know how to react if someone told me the joke in a conspiratorial way in a pub, for example.

Oh yes, this has reminded me of an element of distasteful jokes. When someone starts off telling a joke in a conspiratorial way I know it is going to be one about 'slopes', 'boongs', 'ragheads' etc (Asians, aboriginals, muslims). (Thankfully I don't associate with too many ppl like that nowdays. [Angel] ). I'm not sure whether it is because they know in their consciences what they're doing is wrong, or practically, they don't wanna raise their voices too much in case of it being overheard by the target group who'd come and abuse them back...

But no-one bothers to be conspiratorial about Xtian jokes lol - because Xtians are there to be offended, plus they're not very likely to come up and headbutt ya if they overhear.
[Big Grin]

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Newman's Own
Shipmate
# 420

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Is there anything more tired and boring than erection jokes? This tale is suited only to kids who have just reached puberty, so that they could snicker at knowing what an erection is.

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Cheers,
Elizabeth
“History as Revelation is seldom very revealing, and histories of holiness are full of holes.” - Dermot Quinn

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Matrix
Shipmate
# 3452

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This is the first of the jokes i've read to offend me.

I've thought some of the others (nail and hanging jokes particularly) have been tasteless, but not as offensive. I've been reflecting on why I think this might be for me.

I think it is the equation of the crucifixion with a sexual act. This joke rests on a stupid pun, but a pun that takes the terrible sacrifice of Jesus and equates it to, of all things, penis length. Yes, in my mind it crosses a line. The object of wonder, grace, purity, atonement, sacrifice, life, love, peace - reduced to a nob gag. I'm thinking some things ought to be be beyond making jokes of.

Regards
M

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Maybe that's all a family really is; a group of people who miss the same imaginary place. - Garden State

Posts: 3847 | From: The courts of the King | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
Sarkycow
La belle Dame sans merci
# 1012

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quote:
Originally posted by Matrix:
I'm thinking some things ought to be be beyond making jokes of.

Regards
M

Serious questions:
  1. Which things should be beyond making fun of?
  2. Why?
  3. Who should decide this?

Sarkycow

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“Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.”

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Matrix
Shipmate
# 3452

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quote:
Originally posted by Sarkycow:
Serious questions:
  1. Which things should be beyond making fun of?
  2. Why?
  3. Who should decide this?

Sarkycow

Sarky, thanks for encouraging me think more about this. I'll answer the questions in turn, but I'm aware that others may also want to answer the questions. I'm claiming no exclusive right to.

1. I'm not sure, but in this joke I think I found one of the boundary lines. I understand the necessity, and the sometimes desirability of poking fun at authority, and things that can scare us. In this particular joke, the object of the nob-gag is the sacrifice of Jesus. Perhaps one of the things this experiment will do is help some of us define where the boundaries lay for us.

2. some things are so holy, so sacred, that I believe they are beyond mocking. Let me rephrase the discussion a touch, and see if it helps.

I love my wife dearly. Imagine she gave me a precious gift, she spent a huge amount of time and energy, and plenty of money to find a gift that was suitable for me. It means a lot to her, she's invested greatly in it, it means a huge amount to me, it's a token of her love, and commitment.

Why would i want to mock something so wonderful, why should I, what does it say about me if i mock her gift, what does it say about the gift, and what does it say of our relationship?

I'd want to apply this standard in a greater measure to the sacrifice of Christ.

3. As a good Baptist, I'd say that unless we can have a church meeting on the subject (unlikely...) then it is down to the individual's conscience.

Warm regards
M

[ 12. July 2005, 20:45: Message edited by: Matrix ]

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Maybe that's all a family really is; a group of people who miss the same imaginary place. - Garden State

Posts: 3847 | From: The courts of the King | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
KenWritez
Shipmate
# 3238

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quote:
Originally posted by Matrix:
I'm thinking some things ought to be be beyond making jokes of.

I used to believe this as well, but now I do not. I think *everything* ought to within the bounds of humor, the more direful, the better. Betrayal, sadness, sickness, death, disease, destruction and calumny; all are the most fertile of fields not for flippancy, but for true humor that cuts across all lines to show us our humanity.

Jesus' death on the cross is, in one perspective, the greatest joke in the universe. The Lord of all Creation, tortured to death by his fumbling, fallen creation after he became one of them to show them Love? Is this not the bitterest of jokes?

Yet consider the punchline: Jesus is resurrected by the hand of God three days later and becomes the Savior of His killers.

Now, does the bitterest of jokes not now become the most bittersweet of jokes? And does His tender unfailing love to us, the family of His killers, not make this the sweetest joke of all?

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"The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd." --Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction

My blog: http://oxygenofgrace.blogspot.com

Posts: 11102 | From: Left coast of Wonderland, by the rabbit hole | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
KenWritez
Shipmate
# 3238

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Forgot to add:

There is the issue of appropriateness, a time and place for this humor. I wouldn't joke about the death of a child to a grieving mother, for example.

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"The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd." --Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction

My blog: http://oxygenofgrace.blogspot.com

Posts: 11102 | From: Left coast of Wonderland, by the rabbit hole | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
Matrix
Shipmate
# 3452

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quote:
Originally posted by KenWritez:
I think *everything* ought to within the bounds of humor, the more direful, the better. Betrayal, sadness, sickness, death, disease, destruction and calumny; all are the most fertile of fields not for flippancy, but for true humor that cuts across all lines to show us our humanity.

I agree with you on this list, but for me the issue is not about mocking the terror of the cross, but the love behind it. That's what i was trying to emphasize in my marriage illustration. If i may be blunt outside of Hell, why should i want to take the piss out of such an amazingly wonderful thing?
It's like a man rescued by a fireman from a burning house, turning and mocking the fire service. Yes, mock the fire, joke about the loss of property, joke about a near-death experience, just (for me) don't mock the rescuer.

Regards
M

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Maybe that's all a family really is; a group of people who miss the same imaginary place. - Garden State

Posts: 3847 | From: The courts of the King | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
Matrix
Shipmate
# 3452

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I wonder if the response to the St Onan thread is similar to some of what i am trying to get at here, a feling of unease at the mocking of something so precious and pure.

I kinda hoped that some theological reflection might result from the comments here, but it's ground to a halt. Is that because folks ahve given up on people like me getting a joke, or because people agree, or something else?

Regards
M

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Maybe that's all a family really is; a group of people who miss the same imaginary place. - Garden State

Posts: 3847 | From: The courts of the King | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
corvette
Shipmate
# 9436

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Totally agree with you, Matrix, thank you for putting it so clearly. [Axe murder]
Posts: 494 | From: ecclesia sans frontiers | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
Amos

Shipmate
# 44

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I laughed. So sue me.

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At the end of the day we face our Maker alongside Jesus--ken

Posts: 7667 | From: Summerisle | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged


 
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