{"p":"","h":{"iv":"ROXSYW+cfvEbFHu5","at":"ocxplSQjdRC3tXEtB/9/wg=="}}

The great clown Pagliacci and his son get in a car crash. It's terrible, Pagliacci dies instantly but the son is taken to the hospital. He is about to be operated on when the surgeon says, "I cannot operate on this person -- I am Pagliacci!"

11
Share
Share on Mastodon
Share on Twitter
Share on Facebook
Share on Linkedin
mhoye

@darius This is eerily close to being a strangely-worded summary of a recent Ask A Manager: askamanager.org/2023/01/a-dna-

0
1y
Anpu🌓

@darius
Doctors are allowed to get married. It's been some time since I've seen this one.

0
1y
PlasticJohnny

@darius happy Thursday

0
1y
Craig P

@darius I hate that you made a clown car joke featuring only one clown. I think that's illegal.

1
1y
alison

@darius omg

0
1y
Bean!_

@darius Possible solutions I can come up with:

  • The surgeon is the clown's relative (wife, husband, brother, son...)
  • The surgeon is the clown's reincarnation (or possessed by the clown's spirit)
  • This is a town where everyone is called "Pagliacci"
  • "Pagliacci" is a title, passed on to the town's most veteran clown, who then needs to lay down their work and become clown full-time.
  • "Pagliacci" is a term for "sleepy", "drunk", or any other impairment
  • This is a dream and so the rules don't matter
  • The son also died and this is heaven, the surgeon is the clown but surgery isn't actually necessary
1
1y
Darius Kazemi

Okay I've got a riddle idea.

A father and son are part of a heteronormative nuclear family unit, perhaps we don't state this outright but we only imply. Something happens that renders the father presumably irrelevant for the rest of this riddle. The son requires services that, according to mid 20th century American gender norms, would be performed by his father but not his mother. Yet the services are also of a nature that it would be difficult or unethical to perform them for a close relative.

7
1y
merlin / alex glow

@darius I thought the horse's name was Pagliacci?

0
1y
david haslem

@darius as anyone that actually read Mary Shelley’s work knows, Pagliacci is the name of the _clown car_. The driver has no name, or is simply referred to as Pagliacci’s driver. It is correct that a clown car cannot perform surgery, as it is lacking hands.

0
1y

@darius

{"p":"","h":{"iv":"ROXSYW+cfvEbFHu5","at":"ocxplSQjdRC3tXEtB/9/wg=="}}
0
1y
Colin Gourlay

@darius malaphors, but for riddles. Amazing 👏

0
1y
Replies