Monday, November 22, 2010

Baffling Joke of the Day

A new segment on BPWWOO: The Baffling Joke Of The Day.

Today's Baffling Joke comes from the "Blowflies and Bulldust" section of the Stock and Land, and runs thus:

AHMED goes to Jakob to buy black bras, size 38.

Jakob, known for his skills as businessman, says black bras are rare and that he is finding it very difficult to buy them from his suppliers. Therefore he has to charge $50 for them.

Ahmed buys 25 pairs.

He returns a few days later and this time orders 50. Jacob tells him they have become even harder to get and charges him $60 each.

Ahmed returns a month later and buys Jakob's remaining stock of 50, this time for $75 each.

Jakob is somewhat puzzled by the large demand for black bras and asks Ahmed, what he does with all these black bras.

The Arab answers: "I cut them in half and sell them as skull caps to the Jewish community for $100 each."


I can't help feeling that the composer of this joke got lost somewhere along the way. At some point he almost certainly felt he had the makings of a pretty good joke, but then realised he didn't know where he was going, and panicked.

What is it? Is it a joke about Jakob's skills as a businessman? Is it a joke about Ahmed's skills as a businessman? Is it an anti-semitic joke? Is it an anti-Muslim joke? Is it a joke about how funny bras are?

I think we can definitely say, to all these questions, yes. It is, essentially, a shy, unassuming sort of a joke, that is happy to drop subtle hints as to what it's about, without ever quite finding the courage to make this explicit.

Well done, "Blowflies and Bulldust". Your contribution to national humour is noted.

3 comments:

TimT said...

Some of my happiest moments have been spent swapping lame jokes usually involving national stereotypes in a sticky situation. I have yet to write something that has proved as popular and widely remembered as, say, a story about an Englishman, American, and Irishman and a magic slide.

Katherine said...

This is indeed a baffling joke.
Ben, I attended the workshop you ran at the writers festival - it was great, really enjoyed it!

Ben Pobjie said...

Thanks Katherine, so glad you enjoyed it, I did too.

And thanks for reading!