Editing Joke (section)

== History in print==
[[File:PapyrusWestcar photomerge-AltesMuseum-Berlin-5.jpg|right|upright=1.75|thumb|The [[Westcar Papyrus]], dating to {{circa}} 1600 BC, contains an example of one of the earliest surviving jokes.{{sfn|Joseph|2008}}]]

Jokes do not belong to refined culture, but rather to the entertainment and leisure of all classes. As such, any printed versions were considered [[ephemera]], i.e., temporary documents created for a specific purpose and intended to be thrown away. Many of these early jokes deal with scatological and sexual topics, entertaining to all social classes but not to be valued and saved.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

Various kinds of jokes have been identified in ancient pre-[[Classical antiquity|classical]] texts.<ref group=note>In 2008, British TV channel [[Dave (TV channel)|''Dave'']] commissioned a team of academics, led by humour expert Paul McDonald from the [[University of Wolverhampton]], to research the world's oldest examples of recorded humour. Because humour may be difficult to define their condition was "a clear set-up and punch line structure". In review, McDonald stated: "...&nbsp;jokes have varied over the years, with some taking the question and answer format while others are witty proverbs or riddles. What they all share, however, is a willingness to deal with taboos and a degree of rebellion. Modern puns, Essex girl jokes and toilet humour can all be traced back to the very earliest jokes identified in this research." {{harvnb|Joseph|2008}}</ref> The oldest identified joke is an ancient [[Sumer]]ian [[proverb]] from 1900 BC containing [[toilet humour]]: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap." Its records were dated to the [[First Babylonian dynasty|Old Babylonian period]] and the joke may go as far back as 2300 BC. The second oldest joke found, discovered on the [[Westcar Papyrus]] and believed to be about [[Sneferu]], was from [[Ancient Egypt]] {{Circa|1600 BC}}: "How do you entertain a bored pharaoh? You sail a boatload of young women dressed only in fishing nets down the Nile and urge the pharaoh to go catch a fish." The tale of the three ox drivers from Adab completes the three known oldest jokes in the world. This is a [[Rule of three (writing)#Comedy|comic triple]] dating back to 1200 BC [[Adab (city)|Adab]].{{sfn|Joseph|2008}} It concerns three men seeking justice from a king on the matter of ownership over a newborn calf, for whose birth they all consider themselves to be partially responsible. The king seeks advice from a priestess on how to rule the case, and she suggests a series of events involving the men's households and wives. The final portion of the story (which included the [[punch line]]), has not survived intact, though legible fragments suggest it was bawdy in nature.

Jokes can be notoriously difficult to translate from language to language; particularly [[pun]]s, which depend on specific words and not just on their meanings. For instance, [[Julius Caesar]] once sold land at a surprisingly cheap price to his lover [[Servilia (mother of Brutus)|Servilia]], who was rumoured to be prostituting her daughter [[Junia Tertia|Tertia]] to Caesar in order to keep his favour. [[Cicero]] remarked that "''conparavit Servilia hunc fundum tertia deducta."'' The punny phrase, "tertia deducta", can be translated as "with one-third off (in price)", or "with Tertia putting out."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sadler |first=J. D. |date=1982 |title=Latin Paronomasia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3297064 |journal=The Classical Journal |volume=78 |issue=2 |pages=138–141 |jstor=3297064 |issn=0009-8353 |access-date=2022-08-29 |archive-date=2022-08-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220829014720/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3297064 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Low |first=Peter Alan |date=2011-03-01 |title=Translating jokes and puns |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2010.493219 |journal=Perspectives |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=59–70 |doi=10.1080/0907676X.2010.493219 |s2cid=145706281 |issn=0907-676X}}</ref>

The earliest extant joke book is the ''[[Philogelos]]'' (Greek for ''The Laughter-Lover''), a collection of 265 jokes written in crude [[ancient Greek]] dating to the fourth or fifth century AD.{{sfn|Adams|2008}}{{sfn|Beard|2014|page=185}} The author of the collection is obscure{{sfn|Beard|2014|pages=186–188}} and a number of different authors are attributed to it, including "Hierokles and Philagros the ''grammatikos''", just "Hierokles", or, in the ''[[Suda]]'', "Philistion".{{sfn|Beard|2014|page=188}} British classicist [[Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard]] states that the ''Philogelos'' may have been intended as a jokester's handbook of quips to say on the fly, rather than a book meant to be read straight through.{{sfn|Beard|2014|page=188}} Many of the jokes in this collection are surprisingly familiar, even though the typical protagonists are less recognisable to contemporary readers: the [[absent-minded professor]], the eunuch, and people with hernias or bad breath.{{sfn|Adams|2008}} The ''Philogelos'' even contains a joke similar to [[Monty Python]]'s "[[Dead Parrot Sketch]]".{{sfn|Adams|2008}}

[[File:Houghton Typ 520.97.225 - Icones quinquaginta virorum illustrium - Poggio Bracciolini.jpg|thumb|1597 engraving of [[Poggio Bracciolini]], author of one of the first joke anthologies]]

[[Early modern period|During the 15th century]],{{sfn|Ward|Waller|2000}} the [[Printing press#The Printing Revolution|printing revolution]] spread across Europe following the development of the [[History of printing#Movable type|movable type printing press]]. This was coupled with the growth of literacy in all social classes. Printers turned out [[Jestbook]]s along with Bibles to meet both [[low culture|lowbrow]] and [[highbrow]] interests of the populace. One early anthology of jokes was the ''[[Facetiae]]'' by the Italian [[Poggio Bracciolini]], first published in 1470. The popularity of this jest book can be measured on the twenty editions of the book documented alone for the 15th century. Another popular form was a collection of jests, jokes and funny situations attributed to a single character in a more connected, narrative form of the [[picaresque novel]]. Examples of this are the characters of [[François Rabelais|Rabelais]] in France, [[Till Eulenspiegel]] in Germany, [[Lazarillo de Tormes]] in Spain and [[John Skelton (poet)|Master Skelton]] in England. There is also a jest book ascribed to [[Shakespeare's Jest Book|William Shakespeare]], the contents of which appear to both inform and borrow from his plays. All of these early jestbooks corroborate both the rise in the literacy of the European populations and the general quest for leisure activities during the Renaissance in Europe.{{sfn|Ward|Waller|2000}}

The practice of printers using jokes and cartoons as page fillers was also widely used in the [[Broadside (printing)|broadsides]] and [[chapbook]]s of the 19th century and earlier. With the increase in literacy in the general population and the growth of the printing industry, these publications were the most common forms of printed material between the 16th and 19th centuries throughout Europe and North America. Along with reports of events, executions, ballads and verse, they also contained jokes. Only one of many broadsides archived in the Harvard library is described as "1706. Grinning made easy; or, Funny Dick's unrivalled collection of curious, comical, odd, droll, humorous, witty, whimsical, laughable, and eccentric jests, jokes, bulls, epigrams, &c. With many other descriptions of wit and humour."{{sfn|Lane|1905}} These cheap publications, ephemera intended for mass distribution, were read alone, read aloud, posted and discarded.

There are many types of joke books in print today; a search on the internet provides a plethora of titles available for purchase. They can be read alone for solitary entertainment, or used to stock up on new jokes to entertain friends. Some people try to find a deeper meaning in jokes, as in "Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar... Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes".{{sfn|Cathcart|Klein| 2007}}<ref group=note>NPR Interview with the authors Cathcart and Klein can be found at https://www.npr.org/2007/05/13/10158510/joking-and-learning-about-philosophy {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116181545/https://www.npr.org/2007/05/13/10158510/joking-and-learning-about-philosophy |date=2023-01-16 }}</ref> However a deeper meaning is not necessary to appreciate their inherent entertainment value.{{sfn|Berry|2013}} Magazines frequently use jokes and cartoons as filler for the printed page. ''[[Reader's Digest]]'' closes out many articles with an (unrelated) joke at the bottom of the article. ''[[The New Yorker]]'' was first published in 1925 with the stated goal of being a "sophisticated humour magazine" and is still known for [[The New Yorker#Cartoons|its cartoons]].