A cop pulls over a carload of nuns.
Cop: "Sister, this is a 65 MPH highway -- why are you going so slow?"
Sister: "Sir, I saw a lot of signs that said 22, not 65."
Cop: "Oh sister, that's not the speed limit, that's the name of the highway you're on!
Sister: Oh! Silly me! Thanks for letting me know. I'll be more careful. At this point the cop looks in the backseat where the other nuns are shaking and trembling.
Cop: Excuse me, Sister, what's wrong with your friends back there? They're shaking something terrible.
Sister: Oh, we just got off of highway 119.
Link:
http://www.adrivers.com/trucker-article.php?n=19
Lol, thank you, Rooster - for going through all these troubles.
But, but... would nuns be driving a car that could go 119 mph?
Lol, T(h)ink, at least, they say so in the joke - or does that reflect the "all too human inclination" to exaggerate?
Poetic license, perhaps.
Lol, T(h)ink, doesn't that look much like "jester's license, or jester's privilege?
And that's reminding of another interesting German expression for Virginia:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Narrenfreiheit
Oh, yes, Narrenfreiheit is good.
I'm a day late for this one Marianne, enjoyed it anyway!
Good jokes don't go stale, Virginia.
Lol, thank you, Virginia; there's no "too late" to enjoy a good laugh.
By the way, thanks to T(h)ink's info, another interesting German expression turns up - for "jester's licence" (or "privilege"):
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Narrenfreiheit
Marianne, it is a fascinating word! ...them folks around the Black Forest, the Thuringer and such, they UNDERSTOOD how to turn a phrase...
...and I still wonder if there might be something special going on there, with such depth of expression in language along with all the arts and science that came out of (what became) Germany...
And for narrenfreiheit, I will make a guess that fascinating word may go back to the Middle Ages thereabouts, when the kings would allow their court jesters to get by with insults other folks would get their heads cut off for...
Here for you is THE FOOL'S PRAYER by Edward Rowland Sill (1841-1887), which I have loved from childhood, you may already know this...
HE royal feast was done; the King- Sought some new sport to banish care,
- And to his jester cried: "Sir Fool,
- Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!"
-
- The jester doffed his cap and bells,
- And stood the mocking court before;
- They could not see the bitter smile
- Behind the painted grin he wore.
-
- He bowed his head, and bent his knee
- Upon the Monarch's silken stool;
- His pleading voice arose: "O Lord,
- Be merciful to me, a fool!
- ...
- "These clumsy feet, still in the mire,
- Go crushing blossoms without end;
- These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust
- Among the heart-strings of a friend.
-
- "The ill-timed truth we might have kept--
- Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung?
- The word we had not sense to say--
- Who knows how grandly it had rung!
- ...
- "Earth bears no balsam for mistakes;
- Men crown the knave, and scourge the tool
- That did his will; but Thou, O Lord,
- Be merciful to me, a fool!"
-
- The room was hushed; in silence rose
- The King, and sought his gardens cool,
- And walked apart, and murmured low,
- "Be merciful to me, a fool!"
http://www.poetry-archive.com/s/the_fools_prayer.htmlOh, Virginia, no, there has been and is a lot of great literature and poetry, which remain unexplored.
This is a wonderful poem and prayer!
There have been quite a few famous fools in Continental Europe, and you might have heard about some of them, like, for instance, Triboulet and Till Eulenspiegel:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triboulet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Till_Eulenspiegel
Marianne those are interesting links...I had no idea that Rigoletto was a comination of Triboulet and the French rigoler, to laugh...nor that "A triboulet, a jester dressed entirely in red, is a character associated with the carnival of Monthey in Switzerland."
However Till Eulenspiegel, yes I knew his name, although not much more...I see from the link that he may have been an actual person! You may already know, among Native American cultures here (I am thinking of the Hopi of Arizona) there is sometimes the tradition of the clown. He goes around at festivals laughing and joking, his task is to catch people off guard and maybe thus help them to a new way of understanding something. Thus his role is regarded as spiritual!
Anyway, I was interested to learn that Till Eulenspiegel may have been born around 1300 and died of the Black Death ~ 1350...he reminds me of the Native American clowns!
Oh yes, and a movie based on Charles de Costner's novel "The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak" was shot in 1949 with Gérard Philippe:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Aventures_de_Till_L%27Espi%C3%A8gle
for T(h)ink:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Abenteuer_des_Till_Ulenspiegel
By the way
Eulenspiegel / Ulenspiegel (alias "Owlglass")
Eule / uil = owl
Spiegel / spiegel = mirror (or glass)
and "Eulenspiegel" was the root of the French adjective and noun "espiègle":
l'espiègle (m.) = the mischievous
Dear Marianne,
I enjoyed the link...and the "owl-glass" derivation. In the language of imagery, owls are of course wisdom, and the mirror is reflection...so it is interesting that l'espiegle ended up in French as mischievous!
Lol, Virginia, yes, indeed, all these stories around this legendary character and the name are inspiring.
Good morning, Marianne, my Geneva clock says 7:30 at your house...and it's AM, I think?
Good morning (very early for you), Virginia, yes, it was 7.30 a.m. here, now it is 7.57 h.
Marianne you are now at 10:45 AM I think, and I am now 1:45 AM an' going to bed very soon now!
Oh, sorry, Virginia I was off for a while.
Sweet dreams to you.