- Hardcover: 816 pages
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd (Aug 1969)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0224616625
- ISBN-13: 978-0224616621
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 633,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Rationale of the Dirty Joke
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
In Case You Were Wondering Why Those Dirty Jokes Are Funny..
17 Jan 1999
Format:Hardcover
Proof that academicians can turn any subject into a scholarly study; Legman, an anthropologist, catalogs dirty jokes by type, then traces their history back to ancient folklore, explaining the sources, variations and history. This is a book that works on two levels; if you're really interested in learning that farmer's daughter jokes have a precedent in 12th Century literature, then you won't be disappointed. On the other hand, if you just want to read the good parts and skip the analysis, the book's format makes that easy to do, too. It's unfortunate that both volumes of the "Rationale" are out of print, because they belong in the collection of anyone who's interested in the "more things change the more they stay the same" theory of history, as well as those who just want good jokes to tell people around the water cooler or via email.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Classic
16 Mar 1999
Format:Hardcover
I first read this book in college in the early 70's and thoroughly enjoyed this and the 2nd volume for both their literary and scatalogical merit. I just read that Gershon Legman died on Feb 23, 1999 at age 81 at a hospital near his home in Opio, France. Nice obit in NYT, Sunday 3/14/99.
I hope his scholarship and fight against censorship will motivate some publisher to re-issue these two classics.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Yes, five stars
22 Aug 2003
Format:Hardcover
I always thought my mother was smarter than she let on. She had me read "the rationale of the dirty joke" when I was in my early teens. She told me not to read the jokes so much, but also what was written about the jokes in between. The book/s we had, two by the same name (vol 1 & vol 2)) taught the psychology of why people laugh at 'dirty' jokes. It's armed me in life with an understanding of humour, and the core of humour within us; why we laugh. I can no longer locate my copies, but like the earlier post, I wouldn't sell them for any money if I could find them.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
