V i r g i l ’ s V i e w s

After not finding much humor in the China of Confucius, more recent history seemed to offer better possibilities.  I moved to the early 18th century and checked on Joe Miller,  a man with a familiar name  but vague credentials.   His claim to fame is compiling,  not writing,  a book of   “jests.”  Joke is a more modern word.   He did this even though he did not know how to read.    An itinerant actor,   he apparently learned his lines without reading them first.   An interested reader of this blog may want to investigate this further

One can wonder about his alleged contributions to humor.  Probably current appreciation does not coincide with the opinion of a good joke in 1725 when the book was written.

Then,  as now,  the answer to a question can stir up laughter    An English gentleman in the 18th century asked  “How do men differ from cattle?”   If  he got the correct  answer,  it would have been “Cattle don’t talk politics when they eat and drink.  Politics seems to be a timeless topic of conversation.

Also timeless is the question of age.   A middle aged man and woman were discussing how old people were.   She said “Believe me when I say I’m 40.”  He replied “Oh, I believe you.  After all I’ve heard you say so for the last ten years.”