Saturday, August 20, 2011

Dirty Jokes

Whenever I find myself wishing I could just time-machine myself back to 17th-century Massachusetts to get some answers to my more maddening research questions, I remind myself that if I did manage to time travel, I would find myself in prison within hours.

Evidence:

In 1653, Dr. William Snelling was fined 10 shillings plus court fees for "cursing" after telling this joke "in way of merry disourse":
I'll pledge my friends
And for my foes
A plague on their heels
And a pox on their toes.
This last line was considered too racy to be copied into the court records.

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