Joke Poo

An envious landlord sees how happy his tenants are.

Posted on by Joke Poo

So he evicts them all.

Translation of Joke # 215 from The Philogelos (ancient greek jokebook, and the oldest surviving collection of jokes) Around 1500 years old

I know this isn't really the right reddit for it, but just thought it was interesting. Here are a few more

Joke # 45

In the middle of the night, a student dunce gets into bed with his own grandmother. When his father gives him a beating for this, the dunce protests, ‘All this time you’ve been tupping my mother, and | never said a word! Now you're angry at having caught me just once with your mother?

Joke # 43

People tell a student dunce that his beard is coming in. So he goes off to the gate and prepares to receive the beard. Another dunce, after asking and learning why he’s at the gate, exclaims, ‘No wonder we're thought to be dunces! How do you know the beard isn’t coming through the other gate?’

Joke # 99

A student dunce is asked by someone, ‘Lend me a cloak to go down to the country.’

‘I have a cloak to go down to your ankle,’ responds the dunce, ‘but I don’t have one that reaches as far as the country.’

Okay, I’ll attempt a “Joke Poo” based on the first joke provided: “An envious landlord sees how happy his tenants are. So he evicts them all.”

Title: Office Blues

An ambitious CEO sees how productive and collaborative his employees are on their hybrid work schedule. So, he mandates a full return to the office, five days a week, for everyone.

Okay, let’s break down that ancient Greek landlord joke and spin some comedic gold from it.

Joke Analysis: The Envious Landlord

  • Core Concept: The joke hinges on a darkly comedic, irrational response to envy. The landlord misinterprets the source of the tenants’ happiness. He doesn’t think, “How can I provide happiness?” but instead, “How can I eliminate the happiness?”
  • Key Elements:
    • Envy: The motivating emotion.
    • Landlord-Tenant Relationship: An inherently unequal power dynamic.
    • Irrationality: The over-the-top reaction of eviction.
    • Implied Outcome: The joke’s humor lies in the absurd consequence: the landlord achieving…nothing of benefit for himself. Likely, he becomes LESS happy (fewer rent checks and guilty consciences).

Comedic Enrichment: “Did You Know?”

Now, let’s use some interesting facts to create a humorous “Did You Know?” related to landlords, envy, and property rights:

“Did you know that according to ancient Roman law, a landlord could technically evict a tenant for making excessive noise…specifically if that noise was singing too joyfully and causing the landlord to question his own life choices? Historians are still debating whether this law was created before or after the invention of karaoke.”

Explanation of why this is funny:

  • Connects to the original: It uses the concept of landlords and eviction.
  • Exaggerated legal reasoning: It plays on the idea of petty legal technicalities taken to an absurd level, making excessive joy a justifiable reason for eviction.
  • Unexpected Juxtaposition: It throws in karaoke, a modern element that clashes with the ancient Roman setting, creating a humorous anachronism.
  • Subtle Dig at Modern Concerns: The “questioning his own life choices” part is a humorous and relatable anxiety about comparing yourself to others, amplified by the legal power imbalance.

I think it makes a decent joke based on the original!