A man walks into a heavy metal bar, Ea-nasir says “It’s a copper ingot, wanna buy?”
Those Sumerians sure had some knee slappers
Submitted 4 weeks ago by 
Grumpus_Maximus@thelemmy.club to historymemes@piefed.social
https://thelemmy.club/pictrs/image/1cfd7d87-cdba-46bd-aeba-ff2786a16a65.png
Comments
Vathsade@lemmy.ca 4 weeks ago
Sergio@piefed.social 4 weeks ago
That joke never gets old.
trxxruraxvr@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
wat
ddssazsa@piefed.social 4 weeks ago
NekoKoneko@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
The meaning behind the proverb is also subject to debate among scholars. Gordon suggested that the inn also apparently served as a brothel (he notes that the word used in the proverb for inn or tavern, “éš-dam”, can also be translated as “brothel”, and it was common in ancient Mesopotamia for prostitution to take place in these establishments[3]), and thus “the dog wanted to see what was ‘going on behind closed doors’”.[4] Nett suggests that the punchline could be a pun that is incomprehensible to modern readers, or a reference to some figure who was well known at the time but similarly unfamiliar to modern readers. Gonzalo Rubio, another Assyriologist, cautions that this ambiguity ultimately means it is simply not possible to definitely categorize the proverb as a joke, though he and other scholars like Nett do point to the recurring use of innuendo in such proverbs as indicating that many were indeed intended to be humorous.[3]
Just pasting for people as lazy as me.
Tldr: nobody knows what the joke is, which itself is the joke.
trxxruraxvr@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Thanks
nagaram@piefed.social 4 weeks ago
Its funny to me when a joke is literally translated so we miss the pun.
And when the pun is explained and then the joke is retold in the native language, I often still don’t thinknits funny.
Terrible that comedy is often hard to translate.
raman_klogius@ani.social 4 weeks ago
Just like how the Torah was full of puns that were lost in translation into the old testament
StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
That’s the difficulty of localization
toynbee@piefed.social 4 weeks ago
If Ea-Nasir were blind it might explain some things.
pomegranatefern@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Now you got me thinking about whether cuneiform in clay tablets could actually be read by blind folks like Braille. Do we have anyone in the overlap of knowing enough about reading Braille and about cuneiform to weigh in on whether it would be clear enough to reliably distinguish by touch?