raymond@math.berkeley.edu (Raymond Chen) (10/01/90)
[From Jay Leno's monologue on the ``Tonight Show'']
Ever since the crisis in Kuwait broke, notice how Exxon hasn't spilled
a single drop of oil?
--
Edited by Brad Templeton. MAIL your jokes (jokes ONLY) to funny@looking.ON.CA
Attribute the joke's source if at all possible. A Daemon will auto-reply.
If you don't need a reply, submit to rhf@looking.on.ca instead.
Administrative note:
Many alert readers pointed out that the recent piece on "English as she is
spoke" was remarkably similar to an item from "The Incomplete Book of
Failures" by Stephen Pile. The readers also expressed good recommendations
on this book.
The submitter has sent the following in apology...
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I would like to formally apologize for my posting of the
Portuguese-English phrasebook article in rec.humor.funny and claiming it
was written by my friend Mark Purkis. I have been informed by others
that the idea for the article was not his, nor are some of the lines
within it. I asked Mark to explain this and here is his explanation.
In 1883 Pedro Carolino actually wrote a horrible Portuguese-English
phrasebook called "The New Guide Of Conversation In Portuguese". It has
been re-printed more recently under the title "English As She Is Spoke",
and the book is also mentioned in "The Incomplete Book Of Failures"
(1981, compiled by Stephen Pile, printed by E.P.Dutton, New York).
Mark Purkis was told of the existance of the phrasebook by a friend
of his who quoted a number of passages from it. Mark wrote the
article that I have posted, incorporating the material that he had
heard, as a creative exercise. One letter I received accuses him of
plaguarism, which was not the purpose of the article when first written.
A number of phrases in the article were not written by him. Though the
premise of the article is not his idea, most of the material in it, is.
He was inspired to write his own version of what he imagined the book
was like and used some of the phrases he heard with the ones he
invented.
When he first showed me the article he claimed it was his. I found
it funny and got his permission to post it. He knew it was not all his
material but did not consider it worth telling me. I have confronted
him with this and he apologizes, as he did not realize the scale of
distribution the article would receive. At this, I am at fault, though
I told Mark it would be posted on an "international news network" (the
words I used), I did not bother to explain it to him in detail. Mark
claims that if I had explained that point to him he would have told me
the material was not completely his immediately.
Again, I apologize to all those I have offended, Mark is
considerably embarrassed by the situation and so am I, being a result
of the communication problem between ourselves. Any future postings I
may do in the future I will do with more discretion.
+-+ dronon@contact.uucp +-------+ +-------+ +-------+ Have
| Tom Turrittin +-------+ +-------+ +-------+ +------+
+---------------+"One man's destiny is another man's furtive love rake."