How many of you received The Salt Joke in your inbox or read about it in someone’s blog? It’s the one about a conversation between a Radio Announcer and a caller where the announcer (the emails said it was Yasmin Yusuff) asked the female caller what the everyday name for Natrium Chloride is. I received this joke at least 5 times and read about it in 2 weblogs. I never bought it.
The first time I read it was way back in 2002 at one of the US based Jokes websites. It’s a repository of a few thousand dirty jokes, too bad I’ve forgotten the URL. So, when the email started being circulated, I knew it’s a hoax.
When friends retold it during lunch or teh tarik sessions, I never interrupt them or spoil the supposedly ROTFL-worthy joke. Well, when Radio 4 and Yasmin Yusuff were part of the story, many people believed that it really happened.
I warned some of my close friends that the joke might not be true but they never believed me and kept on retelling it to people whom they thought have never heard it before.
Yesterday, I finally decided to hear it from the horse’s mouth. I messaged Yasmin Yusuff and asked whether the joke is true. It’s kind of funny actually. It was the first time I ran my spellchecker thrice. Hallo, when you’re sending a message to a Radio DJ you don’t want to make any silly mistake, right? I learned this after listening to ERA DJs making fun of the text messages they received during the morning show. I know Yasmin Yusuff is a very senior DJ and wouldn’t be unprofessional or unethical, but I guess, I was just taking the necessary precautions lah.
This morning she replied! I was so thrilled (jakun yang sebenarnya). It’s not everyday I’d get to see ‘Yasmin Yusuff has sent you a message.’ in FB, right? Hehehehehe.
Her answer was: it’s not true. No, people…. the joke is not true. It never happened at Radio 4. Yasmin Yusuff was never part of the joke. Confirmed, it’s a hoax.
To all my friends who have been retelling it to hundreds of people (especially those who were trying to become more popular) I think you have to take the joke back. May I suggest that you call us up and ‘belanja’ us a few rounds of Rojak Mee at Pelita as ‘makan berdamai’. Hahaha.
Ever since receiving a message from Yasmin Yusuff, I’ve become so inspired to learn more English. Although I’ve been writing here mostly using Manglish, I’m still trying my best use the language correctly. Usaha tangga kejayaan.
So, today let’s do a quiz (no Natrium Chloride related questions, I promise!)
What are the meanings of the following sentences?
1. Only the daughter praised her brother.
2. The only daughter praised her brother.
3. The daughter only praised her brother.
4. The daughter praised only her brother.
5. The daughter praised her only brother.
Each sentence has different meaning because the word ‘ONLY’ was placed differently. As a hint, I’ll give you the meaning of sentence No. 1. Only the daughter praised her brother means No one else praised him. Okay, you work out the rest. It’s time to exercise the mind….. Have fun y’all!
The first time I read it was way back in 2002 at one of the US based Jokes websites. It’s a repository of a few thousand dirty jokes, too bad I’ve forgotten the URL. So, when the email started being circulated, I knew it’s a hoax.
When friends retold it during lunch or teh tarik sessions, I never interrupt them or spoil the supposedly ROTFL-worthy joke. Well, when Radio 4 and Yasmin Yusuff were part of the story, many people believed that it really happened.
I warned some of my close friends that the joke might not be true but they never believed me and kept on retelling it to people whom they thought have never heard it before.
Yesterday, I finally decided to hear it from the horse’s mouth. I messaged Yasmin Yusuff and asked whether the joke is true. It’s kind of funny actually. It was the first time I ran my spellchecker thrice. Hallo, when you’re sending a message to a Radio DJ you don’t want to make any silly mistake, right? I learned this after listening to ERA DJs making fun of the text messages they received during the morning show. I know Yasmin Yusuff is a very senior DJ and wouldn’t be unprofessional or unethical, but I guess, I was just taking the necessary precautions lah.
This morning she replied! I was so thrilled (jakun yang sebenarnya). It’s not everyday I’d get to see ‘Yasmin Yusuff has sent you a message.’ in FB, right? Hehehehehe.
Her answer was: it’s not true. No, people…. the joke is not true. It never happened at Radio 4. Yasmin Yusuff was never part of the joke. Confirmed, it’s a hoax.
To all my friends who have been retelling it to hundreds of people (especially those who were trying to become more popular) I think you have to take the joke back. May I suggest that you call us up and ‘belanja’ us a few rounds of Rojak Mee at Pelita as ‘makan berdamai’. Hahaha.
Ever since receiving a message from Yasmin Yusuff, I’ve become so inspired to learn more English. Although I’ve been writing here mostly using Manglish, I’m still trying my best use the language correctly. Usaha tangga kejayaan.
So, today let’s do a quiz (no Natrium Chloride related questions, I promise!)
What are the meanings of the following sentences?
1. Only the daughter praised her brother.
2. The only daughter praised her brother.
3. The daughter only praised her brother.
4. The daughter praised only her brother.
5. The daughter praised her only brother.
Each sentence has different meaning because the word ‘ONLY’ was placed differently. As a hint, I’ll give you the meaning of sentence No. 1. Only the daughter praised her brother means No one else praised him. Okay, you work out the rest. It’s time to exercise the mind….. Have fun y’all!
14 comments:
The only daughter only praised the only brother.
I hardly check my grammar/spelling when I blog. Kadang-kadang malu gak but then it's only a blog.
Hi dnas,
My dear, I ni move around blogs in a cruise ship of late lambat nya nak reach anywhere. Just called my manager, I wish to move around in a jet plane now..ha ha! That's a joke too...now don't let it go round the circle that I have a jet plane now pulak...duh!
Funny, I have not received that joke involving Yasmin Yusuff. Curious pulak. Being a celeb you get all sorts of stuff thrown at you!
Interesting how the whole meaning of each sentence changes as to where we placed 'ONLY'.
I now write slower than I think and so many mistakes and typos, but I now realised people are more forgiving as we are not writing a book where we have a team of proof readers and the works...he he..excuses excuses! Take care.
Salam Eid.
I haven't come across the hoax . . . but I can use my imagination!
I must be living under a coconut shell for not knowing about that joke. And it has been around since 2002? Care to enlighten me?
I think it's not about using correct grammar and punctuations, as long as you write beautifully and passionately, people will still read what you write.
And I think that's why I'm still hanging around here ;)
hehe.. i thought it was true..
good thing you found it it was a hoax. ;-)
To the uninitiated, the joke goes like this:
A woman calls a radio station to win some daily prizes. The DJ asks her a question, 'What is the everyday name for Natrium Chloride?'
The caller has no idea and asks for some hints.
The DJ tells her that it's something she'd put on her husband's eggs in the morning.
So, the caller confidently answers, 'Talcum powder'.
The correct answer is 'SALT'.
I knew it was a hoax coz I came across it abt 2 years ago..but good that u checked with YY herself :))
Sometimes when I blog my eng also berterabur...hehehe
Lily,
i draft my blog entries in MS word. The red and green underlines really bother me. That's the main reason I usually try my best to use the proper grammar.
Kak Ruby,
some typos and wrong word usage mistakes can be hilarious sometimes. Thank god we're writing in Manglish/English. If we write in Arabic it will be worse. Rijal and Rijaal have different meanings. One is 'kaki' while the other is 'lelaki'.
Tunku Halim,
maybe I should have asked what you had in mind based on the hints given before I put the joke here. Hmmmm...
Ardy,
you should install a satellite dish on your coconut shell. Hehehe.
Thanks for the puji-pujian (kembang hidung ni) but I still think that proper grammar and beautiful writing always go hand-in-hand, berjalang beriring-iringang.
jade,
OMG, macamana u boleh terpedaya? Hehehehe. (Bila nak bawak I jenjalan naik keta baru yang shining2 tuuuuuuuu?)
cosmic_gurl,
do you know that YY tu orang kampong koi jugek? To'ki dia duduk kat kampung sebelah kampung arwah ayah koi. Itu yang koi rajin benor pegi message dia kat Facebook. (Itu loghat Temerloh/Bera yang agak cair. Kalau I tulis yang pekat punya, hanya Lily, Mz Hayam ngan Kuzz je yang paham nanti...)
laaa...tertipula I selama ni..It is was good that you checked :)
Nour,
jangan mudah terpedaya dengan apa yang memasuki inbox kita. Hihihi.
dnas,
That joke has been going around way before 2002, pre-internet and pre-email! I've always suspected it was a hoax, but since I am not pally with Yasmin, could not confirm with her.
Thanks for that. Now when I hear the joke being told, I can say "Eleh, kelentong" and refer the joke-teller to this blog.
Dah pencen,
let me guess, it started at the Golf Course. Am I right or am I right? Hehehe.
Hey, tell you what.... if somebody tells that joke, you can start a bet that it's not true. That fella will surely do a triple check from all sources before he starts telling any more jokes after that. :)
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