# Shakespeare's other joke **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2005, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482 "2005-09-20T02:44:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/21 "2005-09-20T18:02:00Z")
Someone did a family guy joke in the style of a shakespear play in a thread a while back. Something about “Remember the time you sold your wife?” ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/22 "2005-09-20T19:06:24Z")
I forget which play had a character named Bottom who was later turned into an ass. Comic relief is scattered through the whole catalogue. I don’t know where this concept of “two jokes” came from. Maybe it’s a Monty Python reference; William “Two Jokes” Shakespeare. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/23 "2005-09-20T19:32:58Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > ‘country matters’ is the euphemism in the above quote, not some spurious ‘o thing’ explanation. They’re variations on the same joke. Unless you think Hamlet was saying “nothing!” just to change the subject. 😉 I’d never heard the “an o thing” thing before I read that article last night, and it may be a big giant reach. Stil, Hamlet means something when he says “nothing.” ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/24 "2005-09-20T19:40:19Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > I forget which play had a character named Bottom who was later turned into an ass. > > Comic relief is scattered through the whole catalogue. I don’t know where this concept of “two jokes” came from. Maybe it’s a Monty Python reference; William “Two Jokes” Shakespeare. But does he write in a shed? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/25 "2005-09-20T20:10:31Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > I I don’t know where this concept of “two jokes” came from. Maybe it’s a Monty Python reference; William “Two Jokes” Shakespeare. I already gave the reference. Funny, I thought it was a pretty famous sketch. I’m really surprised that nobody recognised the reference. Rowan Atkinson (Blackadder/ Mr Bean) plays a teacher who tells us : 1. If Shakespeare wants a funny play he puts a joke in it. 2. There is a joke in it is _The Comedy Of Errors_. The joke is that two people look like each other. Twice. 3. There is **‘the other’** joke in Shakespeare… but he doesn’t tell us what it is. > [@Giles](#): > > So, were Ophelia and Hamlet thinking about “an O thing” “between maid’s legs”? Shakespeare. SHAKESPEARE! Leave! Orifice! Alone! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/26 "2005-09-20T21:04:08Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > I just read in the New York Times today that the title “Much Ado About Nothing” is a play on “Much Ado About An O Thing”. > > “O Thing” apparently referring to female genitalia. Does this make any sense to anyone? “Nothing” was already slang for the female genitalia at the time, so there play on words is right there in the plain text. I suspect your source is either misquoting the professor, or that the professor himself is a loon. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/27 "2005-09-20T22:23:26Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > In his will, he leaves his wife his “second-best bed”. > > Some might regard that as humor. > I’m certain _she_ didn’t… Well, in his defense, “second-best bed” is supposed to refer to the bed in the guest bedroom. Since one generally doesn’t have guests sleeping over all the time, this bed is usually in better shape than one’s “best” bed. Therefore, it wasn’t all that mean of him. Or so the Shakespeare apologists say. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/28 "2005-09-21T00:09:44Z")
FTR, in my studies I’ve heard “nothing” as slang for the female genitalia, but not “[a]n ‘o’ thing”, which is a bit of a stretch. Er, so to speak. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/29 "2005-09-21T00:15:38Z")
> [@KKBattousai](#): > > Well, in his defense, “second-best bed” is supposed to refer to the bed in the guest bedroom. Since one generally doesn’t have guests sleeping over all the time, this bed is usually in better shape than one’s “best” bed. Therefore, it wasn’t all that mean of him. Or so the Shakespeare apologists say. 😉 I’ve heard that, and I can buy it. Now, the claims that he didn’t want his wife buried with him… that’s a little harder to explain, if true. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/30 "2005-09-21T02:12:41Z")
> [@Peter "Two Jokes" Morris](#): > > Rowan Atkinson (Blackadder/ Mr Bean) plays a teacher who tells us : > > 1. If Shakespeare wants a funny play he puts a joke in it. > > 2. There is a joke in it is _The Comedy Of Errors_. The joke is that two people look like each other. Twice. > > 3. There is **‘the other’** joke in Shakespeare… but he doesn’t tell us what it is. All right. All right, y’bastid; here it is, then. Here’s the other joke. The other joke is this: Shakespeare put a joke in _The Comedy of Errors_. Right? This is how we know he intended it to be funny. The joke involves two people who are mistaken for each other, twice, as previously mentioned. The play is a ‘comedy’ because of its ‘errors.’ We can see, then, that when Shakespeare wants a play to be funny, he announces the joke’s specifics unambiguously in the title. Therefore, in order to find Shakespeare’s _other_ joke, we must consult the titles of the other plays. It is immediately apparent that the only other play title directly suggesting humor is _The Merry Wives of Windsor_, because the wives are described as ‘merry.’ Consequently, we should expect that the joke in this play involves wives, just as the joke in \*The Comedy of Errors \* involved errors. And indeed, this is exactly what we find. _In The Merry Wives of Windsor,_ a man attempts to elope with a boy dressed in a woman’s clothing. Twice. That’s the other joke. Happy now, McWhorter? I expect an acknowledgement in the next edition of _Tower of Babel_. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/31 "2005-09-21T02:20:35Z")
McWhorter 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/32 "2005-09-21T02:42:34Z")
> [@Peter Morris](#): > > McWhorter 😕 An Elizabethan play on words. ‘Mc-’ is a variant of the Gaelic prefix ‘Mac,’ (meaning _son_), a slang expression for “fellow” or “comrade;” while ‘Whorter’ is an elided conjugation of “who-O-orter,” where O signifies female genitalia and ‘orter’ is dialect for ‘ought to’ or ‘should have’. So “McWhorter” translates as “fellow who should have female genitalia.” In other words, a compliment. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/33 "2005-09-21T02:47:26Z")
> [@Tracy Lord](#): > > HECK YES you did! Isn’t Robin Nordli (the actor playing Olivia) amazing? She’s one of my favorite actors here. 🙂 > > Did you see anything else while you were in town? Yep, she was great! We also saw Richard III & Faustus. Some of Richard’s asides to the audience are pretty funny, despite it being a non-comedy. Perhaps that’s the “second joke” … the frequent co-mingling of “all the world’s a stage” with the stage is the world… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/34 "2005-09-21T02:51:06Z")
> [@Twoflower](#): > > Some of Richard’s asides to the audience are pretty funny, despite it being a non-comedy. I think Hamlet has some really funny lines, too. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/35 "2005-09-21T02:57:36Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > An Elizabethan play on words. ‘Mc-’ is a variant of the Gaelic prefix ‘Mac,’ (meaning _son_), a slang expression for “fellow” or “comrade;” while ‘Whorter’ is an elided conjugation of “who-O-orter,” where O signifies female genitalia and ‘orter’ is dialect for ‘ought to’ or ‘should have’. So “McWhorter” translates as “fellow who should have female genitalia.” > > In other words, a compliment. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/36 "2005-09-21T03:58:09Z")
> [@Tracy Lord](#): > > Women dressing as men gets the most mileage (even better when the woman has a twin brother to which she looks identical when in disguise! ;)) :smack: But why do they invariably cast an actress with a HUGE rack? :smack: It actually inspired one of my favorite sig lines: * * * Overheard at the Shakespeare Festival: “Look at the Hooters on that Fuck-Animal! There is NO WAY anyone would mistake her for a Dude!” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/37 "2005-09-21T03:59:44Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > An Elizabethan play on words. ‘Mc-’ is a variant of the Gaelic prefix ‘Mac,’ (meaning _son_), a slang expression for “fellow” or “comrade;” while ‘Whorter’ is an elided conjugation of “who-O-orter,” where O signifies female genitalia and ‘orter’ is dialect for ‘ought to’ or ‘should have’. So “McWhorter” translates as “fellow who should have female genitalia.” You know, there’s a football player with the last name of McQuarters… hmm… ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/38 "2005-09-21T04:54:58Z")
Whoa, guys, hold up… English-major-to-be-professor speaking up here: A joke is usually a short story, a one-liner, or a pun that, in Shakespeare’s case, gets inserted into dialogue. A _plot device_ is what the OP is talking about here, and I’d say the second most popular one (after lookalikes) is girls dressing up as guys, hands down. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482/39 "2005-09-21T05:00:01Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > A _plot device_ is what the OP is talking about here, and I’d say the second most popular one (after lookalikes) is girls dressing up as guys, hands down. If only anyone else had mentioned plot devices. 😉 Good to have someone in a position like yours agree, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeares-other-joke/322482.md?page=1)