Kryponite and garlic

[Joel S. Berson]

Perhaps someone should give Wilson:
"107 3/4 elephant jokes",  by Jack Stokes (1979); or
"Elephants never forget!: a book of elephant jokes", by Diane L.
Burns (1967, at the height of prevalence); or
"101 Elephant jokes", edited by Robert Blake (1964; clearly superseded); or
one of the other 16 books with the phrase "elephant jokes" in their
titles found via GB (I haven't read any of them myself).

He can also read any of many books or scholarly articles that discuss
elephant jokes, found via GB.

Joel

At 1/3/2010 08:10 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>At 5:49 PM -0500 1/3/10, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>>On Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 5:37 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>>
>>>  > At 9:29 AM -0500 1/3/10, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>>  >>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?"
>>>
>>>  So, *that's* what "the elephant joke" is! I've read and, perhaps, even
>>>  heard, this expression for dekkids, without having the foggiest.
>>
>>Well, it's *an* elephant joke. I don't think the joke cycle has a
>>single ur-joke.
>>
>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_joke
>>
>Curiously, the relevant one isn't mentioned in this entry, unless I
>missed it.  Here's one version, close to the ones Joel and I were
>remembering:
>
>http://x-judge.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-rule-of-law-see-it-works.html
>Former officials of the Bush Administration and its defenders respond
>to criticism of its torture policies (or as they are wont to call
>them "enhanced interrogation") by invariably claiming as
>justification that no attacks have occurred since 9/11. That
>contention reminds me of the old joke about the New York woman who
>sends her husband to the psychiatrist because he is always snapping
>his fingers. When the psychiatrist asks him why he constantly snaps
>his fingers, he says: "To keep the elephants away." The psychiatrist
>responds by saying that there are no elephants in New York. Whereupon
>the patient responds: "See it is working!" The Bush Administration
>tortured; there were no further attacks; ergo, according to them,
>torture works!
>
>===============
>Many other variants can be found by googling "keep the elephants
>away" + "it works"
>
>LH
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org