Kryponite and garlic

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 8:10 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> At 5:49 PM -0500 1/3/10, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>>
>>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!

One variant that dates back to the '60s goes something like:

* Why do elephants paint their toenails red?
* To hide in cherry trees.
* Have you ever seen an elephant in a cherry tree?
* See, it works!


--Ben Zimmer

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