apparently I'm a bigoted hypocrite (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Garson O'Toole]

Researcher Gershon Legman included a version of the restroom joke in
the second volume of his compendium. He assigned the joke a date of
1941, but I am not sure what evidence he used. I don't have the book
currently. The text below is from GB.

Rationale of the dirty joke: an analysis of sexual humor
Volume 2
Compiled by: Gershon Legman
Edition 2
Publisher: Grove Press
Year: 1975

[Begin extracted text]
'A Yale man, washing his hands after taking a leak, contemptuously
said to a Harvard man whom he saw neglect this punctilio: "At Yale we
are taught to wash our hands after taking a leak. " The other sneered,
"At Hahvahd we are taught not to piss on our fingers".' (Berkeley,
Cal. 1941.)
[End extracted text]

Google Books shows snippets of the joke in "Ray Ginger's jokebook
about American history" by Ray Ginger with a GB date of 1974. This
version featured a Yale person versus a University of Chicago
graduate.

Bonus Quote Magnet version:
Famous Quotes from 100 Great People (Mobi Reference) By MobileReference

[Begin excerpt]
Young man (seeing Churchill leaving the bathroom without washing his
hands): At Eton they taught us to wash our hands after using the
toilet. Churchill: At Harrow they taught us not to piss on our hands.
[End excerpt]

On Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 11:59 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: apparently I'm a bigoted hypocrite (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> An MIT variant circa 1969 includes C who's actually A (moving the other
> two down the chain).
>
> A. runs to the sink, sticks his hand under water, shakes the water off
> and runs out. "At X, they teach us to be efficient."
> B. runs to the sink, gets out a nailbrush, scrubs his hands, gets the
> soap, washes his hands again. "At Y, they teach us to be thorough."
> C. just walks out without washing, with a big grin on his face. "At Z,
> they teach us not to piss on our hands."
>
> Obviously, the MIT version has Z=MIT.
>
>      VS-)
>
>
> On 9/28/2012 11:20 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>> A variant from '53:
>>
>> Two college guys are in a restroom, having a leak. When they finish, A
>> stops to wash his hands. B proceeds to the the door.
>>
>> A. "At Yale, one is instructed to wash one's hands after one has urinated."
>>
>> B. "At Harvard, we know better than to piss on our hands."
>>
>> All things considered, you'd expect that permutations of this joke
>> would be told everywhere. But, IME, it's a hapax told to me by a
>> Harvard man.
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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