Memetime's Return

[eric_the_right]

Okay consider yourself warned:

The teen-aged son of a local pharmicist was arrested after neighbors reported
him wandering down the beach, throwing large quantities of psychotropic pills
into the air at the birds. When taken into custody, his only comment was that he
wanted to "leave no tern unstoned."

I wonder how long this will take...

Comments

[eric_the_right]

Bingo!

In 1974, four of us were sitting around, in a organically-induced semi-altered state of consciousness watching the end of the Nixon Regime on TV, playing word games.

I don't recall ever hearing the punchline before, but the version I cited is the one we came up with that day. When I googled the punchline recently, most of the versions that came back were a number of varitions on one that went like this:

"Some bathers were watching some sea birds that were littering up the beach. So they picked up some rocks and chased them away. They left no tern unstoned." One of the variations includes a watch being taken by the seabirds.

and this one, which I'm still trying to confirm:

"I am a conscientious man, when I throw rocks at sea-birds I leave no tern unstoned" -OGDEN NASH This just might be the "urtext", as we like to say.

I did find this longer variation of my version:
There was a biology student who was studying equilibrium in sea birds with a specific focus on terns. He proposed that giving measured doses of THC (from, of course, marijuana) and observing their flight patterns would give some insight to the problems of equilibrium in three dimensional space. This proposal being given in a more liberal era, the student got the funding. He filled out mountains of forms, set up a lab with a ready supply of terns, and proceeded on his way. After a year of diligent work, groveling monthly before the review committee to get his stipend, and living with drugged terns, he completed his study.

With trembling hands, he delivered his 247-page report, complete with charts and graphs, to the review committee. The august body peruses his study, asking penetrating questions and reducing our student to jell-o. Finally, the department head rises. The light reflects off her steel rimmed glasses as she stares down at our student.

"There is a lot of good work here," she says. "But we can't accept this report. You have detailed marvelously the effects of THC on terns but you forgot one essential step: you have no control group." Our student turns pale and says, "You don't mean..."

"Yes. I'm afraid so. You left no tern unstoned." http://wimp.nsm.uh.edu/joke.html They don't cite a date for when they posted the content.

My point in all of this is trying ot establish a couple of things: 1. Did we, in fact, possibly launch a new meme/version of the joke (if, indeed, Ogden Nash's version is the urtext) 2. If we did, how long did it take to proliferate and develop the extended variation? 3. If we didn't, when did the joke pick up the "alternative"/drug-related version?

And so, as someone else once said: "Onward through the fog"

[bald_ruminant]

In order to find the point at which this joke turned into drug humor, you need to find out when "stoned" became common slang for being in a drug-altered state.

I for one, miss the good old days when getting stoned left you dead or badly bruised.

[captain_ice]

Prolly would be before we were born....

I'd say late 60's or early 70's.

As for the rest????

*groan*