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Asked by anon-193461 to Morwenna, Jamal, iainstaniland, Heidi, Emma, Carl on 13 Nov 2018.
Question: how did the joke that 'the ultimate question is 42' joke start? also what was the first joke
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Iain Staniland answered on 13 Nov 2018:
It was Douglas Adams who first started the answer to the Ultimate question about Life the Universe and Everything is 42. It was in his Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy (originally a radio play) books.
He was an amazing man who wrote some brilliant and very funny books. My fav is “last chance to see” where he went to find endangered animals.
It is such a shame he died so young
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Heidi Gardner answered on 13 Nov 2018:
Iain has answered your number 42 question, so I’ll aim for the second part!
The first joke has been traced all the way back to 1900BC. It is a saying of the Sumerians, who lived in what is now southern Iraq and goes: “Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband’s lap.”Yea.. I don’t really get it.
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Emma Crawford answered on 13 Nov 2018:
42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything in the Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy books written by Douglas Adams
Watch it here in the film: https://youtu.be/5ZLtcTZP2js
So you might need to ask him? Or read the 2011 book “42: Douglas Adams’ Amazingly Accurate Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything” which examines Adams’ choice of the number 42 and also contains a collection of some instances of the number in science, popular culture, and humour.Apparently, the world’s oldest recorded joke has been traced back to 1900 BC and suggests that toilet humour was as popular with the ancients as it is today. It is a saying of the Sumerians, who lived in what is now southern Iraq and goes: “Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband’s lap.”
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