Kryponite and garlic

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:29 AM -0500 1/3/10, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>At 1/2/2010 10:13 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>There's a hair salon about a half mile from my house whose name is
>>"Kryptonnite".  I have no idea why (or what's with the two n's), but
>>I haven't seen Superman around the neighborhood, so I guess it works.
>
>A modernization of the following?

Indeed, I had various versions of the elephant joke learned at my
mother's knee (versions not involving vampires or garlic, but told
with an exaggerated Yiddish accent) in mind.  No doubt Aristotle had
his own version to illustrate the fallacy of affirming the consequent.

LH

>A man was invited to a new friend's house for drinks.  When he
>arrived, he noticed strings of garlic hung at the door and all the
>windows, and asked his host why he had put them up.  His host
>replied, to keep out the elephants.  "G'wan!  Vampires maybe, but
>garlic wouldn't deter elephants."  His host replied, "Well, have you
>seen any elephants around _my_ house?"
>
>Joel
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org