In a world beset by terror and violence, it’s good to know that a simple pun can still make you queasy. A ‘tip’ of the hat to the Wall Street Journal‘s ‘Best Of The Web Today’
Military Operations
Turkish troops leading the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan won friends among hundreds of Afghan families Tuesday after army doctors carried out a mass circumcision of boys who had missed the important Muslim ceremony for one reason or another,” Reuters reports from Kabul:
“It takes about five to eight minutes to do each person,” an army doctor told Reuters. “If you want, I would be happy to do you and your colleagues.”
The dispatch doesn’t say if the wire service took the doc up on his offer. Nor does it say if the doctors received payment for their work, though we suspect they only took tips.
I’m speechless. Laughing really hard, but speechless. This is almost a Feghoot (let’s see who remembers those)…
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Date: 07/25/2002 00:00:00 AM
Joel, yes it’s an ancient joke. (For another example, see Rabbi Tuck’s “half off” sale in the movie Robin Hood Men in Tights.) Humor is a way to handle things that really make you uncomfortable but can’t be changed, so I suspect the first circumcision joke was made by the first jewish male to understand what God was asking them to do. But the unexpectedness of it was hilarious.
Date: 07/24/2002 00:00:00 AM
Wow. That could be worth a trip…
Date: 07/24/2002 00:00:00 AM
Nothing. Unless you can make a pun about it.
Date: 07/24/2002 00:00:00 AM
What is funny about mutilating the sex organs of defenseless humans?
Date: 07/24/2002 00:00:00 AM
Ferdinand Feghoot is the guest of honor at the upcoming Worldcon in San Jose at the end of August.
Date: 07/24/2002 00:00:00 AM
HEY! The joke about a circumcisor only taking tips appeared on a Saturday Night Live episode in the 70’s or early 80’s. Honest.Do Turks watch SNL?
Date: 07/24/2002 00:00:00 AM
*grin* Larry gets it……and I think there’s a picture of this joke written in cuneiform on some clay tablets somewhere…
Date: 07/24/2002 00:00:00 AM
Or a Ferdinand….