[PW] Re: How to research "where is this joke from"

[Bob Boyce]

Joan--
  
  Researching a joke through written sources--which includes the Internet--is an exercise in futility, because jokes are oral. We don't keep written records of who told a joke--and even if we did, we wouldn't know if they were the actual author, unless they told us so.
  Sometimes--rarely--someone will claim authorship of a joke. But we don't give pedigrees of jokes, we just tell 'em! Sometimes we'll say that a friend told it to us, or that we heard it on TV or the radio or read it. And even then, we don't actually identify the source--"my friend Jack Hobson" or "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." And even then--we don't know that Jack Hobson was the *author* of the joke!!
  Finding the author is virtually impossible, I would say.
  And now, I have to pass along a joke that I made up--please note--I AM THE AUTHOR OF THIS JOKE (but I don't expect people to give me credit--just tell it and enjoy it!).
  Most people don't realize that the French composer Georges Bizet was also a cattle rancher. But they might recognize the brand he used for his cattle--the R Lazy N.

  Bob Boyce
Reference Department, Lincoln NE City Libraries
r.boyce at LincolnLibraries.org

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Condell, Joan" <joan.condell at dallascityhall.com>
Reply-To: list at project-wombat.org
Date:  Fri, 20 Oct 2006 12:33:48 -0500

My ultimate question is in the subject line, but I wanted to provide you
its somewhat long backstory.

A colleague, to whom I'd told a joke months ago, came to me and wanted
to know where I'd heard the joke so he could properly credit it in a
speech he was doing for Toastmasters.  I tried variations of Google
searches involving key elements of the joke, but got way too many hits.
I went back and located the joke in my email "Sent" box, but I had
deleted the miles of headers and nested >>>s of quoted text before I
passed it on.  I have no idea who originally sent it to me, but, armed
with the full text I was able to return to Google and enter a more
specific search with the right terms.  Even so, I got over 500 hits.
And the joke varied slightly between the dozen or so instances I
checked.  

I gave him a list of a few of the varied places I'd found it, as well as
the full text of the joke as I had received it, and he was happy.  I'm
not.  Now to my ultimate question:

How does one research the question "where is this joke from?"  Are there
any reference works on jokes or humorous stories that might help?  Is it
even possible to definitively answer a question like this?  

Yes, it's Friday, and I really do have better things to do, but this was
going to bug me until I asked the Collective Wisdom.

- Joan

P.S.  I'm willing to send the joke to anyone who requests it.  I didn't
post it with my question because it's a little long.


> Joan Condell
>   Cataloger, Dallas Public Library
>       jcondell<at>dallaslibrary<dot>org
> 
>                   >^..^<
> Purr and the world purrs with you.   
>           Hiss and you hiss alone.     
> 
> 
_______________________________________________
Project Wombat
list at project-wombat.org
http://www.project-wombat.org