“Do You Serve Lawyers and Politicians Here?” Stereotyped Lawyers and Politicians in American Jokes and Anti-Proverbs Selye János Egyetem Tanárképző Kar Anna T. Litovkina “Do You Serve Lawyers and Politicians Here?” Stereotyped Lawyers and Politicians in American Jokes and Anti-Proverbs Komárom, 2016 © Dr. habil. Anna T. Litovkina, CSc., 2016 A címlapon Halász Géza grafikája látható, a szerző engedélyével. On the front cover, a cartoon by Géza Halász, by the permission of the author. A kiadvány az Emberi Erőforrás Minisztériuma és a PRO SELYE UNIVERSITAS n.o. támogatásával készült. Szakmai lektorok / Reviewed by: Doc. PaedDr. Barta Péter, CSc. Doc. Szöllősy Judit PaedDr. Puskás Andrea, PhD. Nyelvi lektor / Language review by: Doc. Szöllősy Judit ISBN 978-80-8122-172-9 Table of Contents Preface ................................................................................................................7 Part I: Stereotyped Lawyers in American Lawyer Jokes Introduction ............................................................................................ 11 Chapter 1: Stereotyped Lawyers in American Lawyer Jokes .............15 Chapter 2: Lawyers, Doctors and Other Professionals in American Lawyer Jokes .............................................................. 38 Chapter 3: The Lawyer as Animal in American Lawyer Jokes ..........74 Chapter 4: Killing Off Lawyers in American Lawyer Jokes .............94 Chapter 5: After they Die, Lawyers Go to Hell .................................105 Part II: Lawyers and Politicians in American Anti-Proverbs Introduction: Background of Anti-Proverb Research and Terminology ........................................................... 117 Chapter 6: Lawyers in American Anti-Proverbs .............................. 122 Chapter 7: Politicians in American Anti-Proverbs ...........................139 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 174 References ......................................................................................................178 On-line sources of jokes, anti-proverbs and humorous quotes ..............186 PrefACe What’s the strongest argument against both theories of origin? Politicians and lawyers. Who in their right mind would create (or evolve into) these species? (Joke)1 Organization and Aim of the Book The main aim of the book Do You Serve Lawyers and Politicians Here?”: Stereotyped Lawyers and Politicians in Anglo-American Jokes and Anti- Proverbs is to address stereotypical traits of lawyers and politicians as they are reflected in Anglo-American jokes and anti-proverbs, also known as proverb transformations. The book consists of two parts divided into seven chapters, followed by the Conclusion and Reference. The first part of the book, organized into five chapters, addresses American lawyer jokes. In the introduction to the first part I review the background of American lawyer jokes. While the first chapter makes an attempt to analyze the stereotypical traits of lawyers in the jokes, the second chapter examines the dominant stereotypical features of lawyers compared to those of doctors and representatives of other professions. The focus of the third chapter is on a small segment of American lawyer jokes, namely, jokes in which lawyers are compared to animals. The fourth chapter of the book treats jokes the butt of which are lawyers as candidates for removal from society or, more often than not, extermination. The fifth chapter focuses on the following question: What awaits lawyers after they die? The second part of the book, divided into two chapters, concentrates on lawyers and politicians as the most frequently mocked professions and occupations in Anglo-American anti-proverbs. The introduction to the second part addresses briefly the background of anti-proverb research and terminology, and also points out various popular themes treated in Anglo-American proverb alterations, among which are various professions and occupations. The last two chapters of the book focus on the two most frequently parodied professions and occupations in 1 http://jokeparty.com/ 7 Anglo-American anti-proverbs, the figure of the lawyer and the politician. While the sixth chapter of this book treats stereotypical traits of lawyers, the seventh chapter addresses the main features of politicians as reflected in anti-proverbs. Acknowledgements The idea of exploring American legal humor came to me after reading the book A jog humora [The Humor of the Law] (see Fenyvesi 2003), as well as after conducting an interview with the editor of the book, Associate Professor of Law, Hungarian lawyer Csaba Fenyvesi, about humor in the Hungarian legal system (see T. Litovkina 2009b; 2010c). I would like to express my gratitude to Csaba Fenyvesi for the inspiration he gave me. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Fionnuala Carson Williams, David Karla, and Carl Lindahl for their easy willingness in proofreading some parts of the book. In addition, I would like to express many thanks to Judit Szöllősy for her kind help with ‘anglicizing’ the text, and for her critical comments and suggestions. Thanks also go to Barnabás Vajda, Andrea Puskás, and Mária Bartal, who have contributed to the reviewing, editing and publication of the volume. And last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to all my colleagues, friends, teachers and students who have shared and discussed with me their views and ideas on humor and proverbs, in particular to Salvatore Attardo, Péter Barta, Dorota Brzozowska, Władysław Chłopicki, Christie Davies, Hrisztalina Hrisztova-Gotthardt, Imola Küllős, Rita Mayer, Wolfgang Mieder, Victor Raskin, Katalin Vargha, and Vilmos Voigt. I would also like to express thanks to the memory of the late Ariadna Ivanovna Kuznetsova, my thesis supervisor at Moscow Lomonosov University, whose personality and love for teaching have continually illuminated my life and academic career. 8 PArT I