This is an *old* classic that keeps coming around in various versions on the Internet.
A Indian Holy Man visited New York City, and stoped at a butcher shop to buy some liver. The butcher was teaching his nephew how to cheat such visitors in the classical manner and pushed down with his thumb on the scale while measuring the meat. The nephew was not too smart, and he asked his uncle to explain again exactly what he should do. … Read the rest...
https://shaggy-dogs.briancombs.net/ripping-off-an-indian/
his was posted a year or two ago by H. Payne. I had not heard it before.
Do you know someone who seems to know everything? When asked why, they say, “A little birdie told me.” Did you know they probably aren’t lying? It is a little known fact that there ARE little birds that fly very fast, are never seen, and they are everywhere. – Thus, these creatures are called “Flies Unseen Everywhere” or FUE for short. These birds … Read the rest...
https://shaggy-dogs.briancombs.net/the-wisdom-of-birds/
Other than its being slightly obscure (heh, heh, heh), what can I say?
Even though they live lives of lonely danger in front of the crowd, matadors are seldom killed in their work, and they usually retire to live to ripe old ages. When a matador dies young, it is usually a mysterious event. Therefore, when they find a dead matador, the police are well advised to remember this old maxim: Always questionable.… Read the rest...
https://shaggy-dogs.briancombs.net/life-and-death-of-the-matador/
This is modified from a Frank and Ernest cartoon by former punster of the year, Bob Thaves.
In addition to what we normally hear in history class, the famous early-19th century French general was not only reponsible for a revolution in military strategy, but also he helped develop certain pieces of weaponry such as the hand grenade. The only problem occurred when a friend asked him what would happen if one of his weapons was detonated on the kitchen floor. … Read the rest...
https://shaggy-dogs.briancombs.net/history-decontructed/
When I first heard this story, it was about Beethoven, but this from Ulf Zimmerman is more elegant.
Following Chopin’s death, there was a tremendous crowd that followed his funeral train and stood by the grave. When these folks finally disappeared and no one was left but the couple of gravediggers who were going to fill up and close the grave, one of these guys said, We should open up the coffin and have a look at Chopin. That way … Read the rest...
https://shaggy-dogs.briancombs.net/musicians-undoing/
This is an old tale. Various versions can be found on the internet.
We recently took a trip to Merrie Olde, and we enjoyed it very much. The service was good and the food was much better than we had been told to expect. We ordered at a small fish and chips shoppe in the English Midlands, and we couldn’t believe the size of the portion of fish that came. It was unbelievably large and it was even more delicious.. … Read the rest...
https://shaggy-dogs.briancombs.net/fish-and-chips/
In ancient times, workers in a popular deli were told that they could eat anything they wanted during lunch hour — anything, that is, except the very expensive smoked salmon. Thus, were created the world’s first anti-lox breaks!… Read the rest...
https://shaggy-dogs.briancombs.net/salmon-story/
Paints were a very precious quantity in the good old days, and British merchants could make a young fortune supplying paints to the colonies. One company sent a clipper ship full of red paint across the ocean. It had the very bad luck to collide with another ship full of blue paint. As a result of this disaster, both crews were marooned.… Read the rest...
https://shaggy-dogs.briancombs.net/a-ship-of-another-color/
by Alan B. Combs
Pierce Brosnan is one of my favorite actors. I liked him in “Remington Steele” and I think he makes an excellent Agent 007 — effective, humorous, and dangerous. However, in the time between his stint as Reminton Steele and his playing James Bond, Pierce’s career fell into the pits. It was not certain that he would make it in acting, and several of his paternal uncles advised him to go into family businesses with them. One … Read the rest...
https://shaggy-dogs.briancombs.net/male-bonding/
This was posted on alt.callahans by Stark Night (aka Sean Roberts).
Starknight looks up from his drink. “I have a confession to make; I was once in jail in Derry. The story of how it came about, though, is interesting…
“You see, one of my relatives (a 3rd cousin twice-removed on my mother’s side of the family) was a landowner in Ireland. He had a small dairy, some pasture lands, and about 10 acres of crops. All in all, a … Read the rest...
https://shaggy-dogs.briancombs.net/my-days-as-a-landlord-and-how-they-ended/