# Prince Albert in a can **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394 "2004-01-21T01:02:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Seraphim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Seraphim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seraphim)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/1 "2004-01-21T01:02:17Z")
I’ve always been mystified by this joke: Prank Caller: “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?” Callee: “Yes.” Prank Caller: “Well, you better let him out!” I don’t get it. What the hell is the caller referring to? Where did this expression come from? And why is it funny? ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/2 "2004-01-21T01:06:44Z")
The call would be made to a tobacco shop, hopefully one that sold [Prince Albert tobacco](http://www.treasure-attic.com/p5-38053-prince-albert-tobacco-cans.html). ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/3 "2004-01-21T01:25:35Z")
It’s just a silly prank like “Is your refrigerator running?” … “Better go catch it!” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/4 "2004-01-21T01:28:11Z")
And, for the slang-challenged among you, “can” is a euphemism for “toilet.” (“Does your nose run and your feet smell?” “You’re built upside-down!”) ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/5 "2004-01-21T01:58:55Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > And, for the slang-challenged among you, “can” is a euphemism for “toilet.” “Do you have Prince Albert in a toilet?” Well that doesn’t make a lick of sense! ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/6 "2004-01-21T02:52:55Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > “Do you have Prince Albert in a toilet?” > > Well that doesn’t make a lick of sense! It is a children’s gag. You’re not _supposed_ to think it funny. The whole sequence is. Call to a tobacco retailer - "Do you have Prince Albert in the can? Yes. Well, let him out!" Hang up amid much giggling. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/7 "2004-01-21T03:16:24Z")
No, the joke in the OP _is_ funny. And **lsura** ’s answer was correct. I’m questioning **Eve**. The joke has nothing to do with cans in the sense I use to drop the kids off at the pool. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/8 "2004-01-21T03:20:39Z")
Well, now I get what she’s saying, but as a kid I never associated the joke with keeping the actual prince in the toilet. I thought of it as keeping the actual prince in an actual can. Meh. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/9 "2004-01-21T06:35:24Z")
Agreed Eleusis. The point of the joke is that you are conveying the idea to the tobacco store owner (or drug store owner) that Prince Albert is actually stuck in that can of tobacco and he is suffocating and so the owner had better let him out. And when my friends and I made those crazy phone calls, we _never_ thought the point of the joke was that Prince Albert was stuck in a toilet. It may have been 15 years ago (maybe more), when I read a full-page article in the newspaper that Prince Albert would no longer be sold in a can. (Shocking isn’t it?) And how did the article begin? “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?” to which a kindly tobacco store owner would grudgingly answer “Yes we do”, etc. And how come Prince Albert is no longer being sold in a can? It would be hilarious to think that the endless amount of phone pranks finally proved to be too much for the tobacco company and its vendors. No, the answer is more utilitarian than that. Prince Albert is now being sold _only_ in a pouch because 1) It is cheaper than using a metal can and 2) The pouch actually keeps the tobacco fresher. Well, it was a story that _had_ to be told. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/10 "2004-01-21T08:05:34Z")
The word “can” for “toilet” is the opposite of a euphemism; it’s a dysphemism. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/11 "2004-01-21T12:41:04Z")
“Prince Albert” was and maybe still is a shredded tobacco used for rolling-your-own cigarretes. It came in a distinctive, mostly red, can with a litho of the real Prince Albert on the front. The can was of about 5/8" thick, 3" wide and 5" or 6" high with a flip top lid. About the right size to carry in a hip pocket. Now the question: “Do you have Prince Albert in a/the can?” and the retort to a “Yes” answer makes the joke. “Let him out.” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/12 "2004-01-21T14:30:19Z")
The toilet was always the _point_ of the joke, at least to me: “Do you have the future King of England locked in the toilet?” ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/13 "2004-01-21T14:37:24Z")
The “can” can be both the “toilet” and the “bathroom”, in which case, Prince Albert in the can _could_ refer to him being locked in the bathroom, which is funny. It makes WAY more sense than a human being locked in a tiny tin. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/14 "2004-01-21T14:42:00Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > The toilet was always the _point_ of the joke, at least to me: “Do you have the future King of England locked in the toilet?” No. I have never heard it stated as Prince Albert in **the** can. As a question in regards to tobaco, it makes no sense to ask if it is in the can. The question is if the vender sells it in **a** can. The meaning of the question can then be turned into a (ver) slightly humorous twist by suggesting that the actual Prince is in said can. ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/15 "2004-01-21T14:45:56Z")
“King of England”??? Prince Albert would _never_ have been the King of England… That’s why he was only a “prince” while married to Queen Victoria… The same way that the current Prince Phillip could never be King of England even though he’s married to QEII… Am I right folks?? ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/16 "2004-01-21T15:40:41Z")
you’re right as far as im aware. A King outranks a Queen (don’t jump down my throat anyone, I didn’t make up the rules of pageantry) thus if the reigning Monarch is a Queen, her consort would be a Prince (specifically a Prince-Consort), however if the reigning monarch is a King, his consort becomes a Queen. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/17 "2004-01-21T15:59:40Z")
Brit checking in: Quite right, a Prince Consort is never in line to the throne. Nor is a Queen Consort. On the death of King George VI the throne passed to his elder daughter, now Queen Elizabeth II, although his wife was alive, well, and had nearly fifty years to live. She was called Queen (“Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother”) for the rest of her life but wasn’t remotely in the line of succession. and any right she did have would have been via her parentage and not through her own marriage. The batting order at the moment is: Charles Charles’s sons in order of age (William and Harry) Andrew Andrew’s daughters in order of age (Beatrice and Eugenie) Edward Edward’s daughter Anne Anne’s son Peter Anne’s daughter Zara. As soon as William or Harry becomes a father, Andrew and everyone below moves down a seat. Philip is somewhere down the list, as IIRC he is a descendent of Queen Victoria, but before he could get the crown there would have to be an avalanche of suspicious deaths that would make all of the Diana conspiracy theories look like starters. Of course, if someone rings up and says “Have you got Prince Albert in a pouch?” he can still use the same punchline if the tobacconist cooperates. **Eve** was nearly right, in that George VI was known as “Bertie” before he was crowned, just as his brother Edward VIII was known as “David”. Charlie will probably stick with his real name to be crowned by, though. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/18 "2004-01-21T16:07:43Z")
OK, I was **wrong** , no one named Albert is, every was _or ever will be_ in line for the throne of England. Are you _over it_ and can we get back to the important issue of whether any royal named Albert was locked in a tiny can or in the bathroom?! ---
**Author:** ![rngadam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/97f17d/32.png) [@rngadam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rngadam)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/19 "2004-01-21T16:14:15Z")
BTW, Simpons 15x04 (The Regina Monologues) has Marge and Homer walking by an person-high “Prince Albert in a Can” around 10:00 while shopping at “Harrods Department store”. ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394/20 "2004-01-21T16:15:51Z")
I came in thinking that there may have been some urban mythic horror about finding a “vienna sausage” or “hotdog” with a ring through it. It would have been more interesting. I guess it would have made more sense with a vienna sausage since those usually come in cans but the poor guy who lost his prince albert and the attaching parts would not have been very well hung. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-albert-in-a-can/225394.md?page=2)