yek jahbeh dar bad va meekhareh tehlehveezion yek torkeh

one box in then and buys television one The Turk

The Turkish man buys a television and in the box

pass foorooshgah beh va meedareh bahr  ahnrah va meebeeneh kohntrole  dastgaheh

back store to and takes out it and sees control remote

he sees the remote control and takes it out and

eshtebahee hesab machineh een aghah keh meegheh foorooshandeh beh va meedeh

wrongly calculator this sir that says store clerk to and gives

gives it to the store clerk and says, “Sir, by accident this calculator

aahmad tehlehveezion een bah

.came television this with

came with my television.”

My dad told me this joke and he said he learned it from one of his friends at work.   At parties or lunch gatherings, there always comes a point where the adults just like to share funny stories and jokes.  Even though these jokes are politically incorrect and make fun of an ethnic group, people still laugh at them.  This sort of joke falls in a group of “Turk” jokes that is very popular amongst Persians.  This makes the people feel more comfortable to laugh at them.

In Iran, there are many different regions and each region has a different identity.  All Persians have many similarities, such as the language Farsi, but they also have differences, such as accents, with the people of different regions.  One region in the northwest of Iran is called Azerbaijan.  The route of the people of this region traces back to the country Turkey.  Many of the people speak a different form of Turkish, but they all speak Farsi, however with an accent.  In Iran, many jokes are centered around the people, called “Turks.”  The term “Turk” is referring to the people of Azerbaijan, not of the country Turkey.  The Turks serve as a blason populaire for the Persians.  The people of that region have a positive relationship with the rest of Iran, but the Turks are always stereotyped as being dumb and ignorant.  For example, the way that Americans have “dumb blonde jokes”, the Persians have Turk jokes.  It is not true that people from Azerbaijan are dumb, but my dad says that they are always the victims of these jokes because their accent makes them sound less educated than other Persians.  However, these jokes are just told to make people laugh; it is not an actual reflection of an ethnic group.

“A Turk goes to the doctor and he says, “Doctor, whenever I drink tea, my eye hurts.”  The doctor does all the tests and examinations and finds nothing and tells him that he’s ok and to go home.  He comes back again, and again he says whenever he drinks tea, he has the same problem.  So the doctor says, “Let’s do another test and see what happens.”  He pours him a cup of tea.  The Turk pours some sugar in his tea, he stirs it, and he starts drinking the tea with the teaspoon in the cup.  The doctor realizes that every time he takes a sip, the teaspoon pokes his eye.”

My father also told me this joke.  He learned this one at a dinner party with some family friends.  Like the previous piece, this illustrates the typical stereotype of the Turks from the Azerbaijan region.  This genre of jokes is normally told in an intimate setting.  The person telling the joke usually knows his audience so that he does not offend anyone; people do not usually go up to someone they just met five minutes ago and tell these jokes.

I have actually seen these jokes be told at parties where there is a large gathering.  I have noted that when people start these jokes, they often start off with “I knew this Turk once” and they sometimes add in names or specific details.  Everybody knows that it is a joke once it ends, but the familiarity gives a sense of reality and truth to the audience.  Sometimes I feel tricked when I here these jokes; a couple of times I actually thought that this Turkish man existed and the performer was retelling an actual story.   It would take me a while to realize that it is a joke and all made up, perhaps since, at the time, I was not familiar with them and was not expecting them to be actual jokes.