Speaking of paid obits ... I am not sure the source of this tidbit, possibly the 2005 Farmer's Almanac.
It concerns a woman who went into her local newspaper office to write the obituary for her recently deceased husband. The ad rep told her the fee for a submitted obituary was $1 per word. She paused, reflected, and then said, "Well, then, let it read, 'Billy Bob died.' "
"Sorry, ma'am, replied the editor, "but I'm afraid there's a seven-word minimum on all submitted obituaries."
Flustered, the woman thought for a minute and then instructed the ad rep to write, "Billy Bob died. 1983 pickup for sale."
1 comment:
that bit o' obit humor has been around for decades. it comes with variations on the ad, all of which have the widow selling something.
joanne west cornish sent another funny death-related story that makes the rounds periodically.
joanne says:
"With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person, which almost went unnoticed last week.
"Larry LaPrise, the man who wrote 'The Hokey Pokey,' died peacefully at age 93.
"The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin. They put his left leg in. And then the trouble started."
it's hilarious, isn't it?
but i have a few corrections. larry laprise, the man who is generally credited with writing "the hokey pokey," died in 1996 at age 83.
i won't even get into whether he really did start the dance that goes, "you put your left foot in; you put your left foot out." others have claimed that distinction over the last 60 years or so.
i suspect that the joke about getting the "hokey pokey" creator in a coffin accompanied each of their deaths. it's very likely that the story went around before any of them died.
but it's still funny.
the same can be said about the obituary for poppin' fresh, the pillsbury doughboy, which susan little, the obit collector from georgia, read that at an obit writers conference a few years back.
at least once a year since then, someone has forwarded poppin's obit to me.
and the beat goes on.
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