How about a laugh, (hopefully)

My eldest son has become interested in translating cuneiform into English. As a mother I feel I can boast about how smart he is and how proud I am of him. So, anyway, as we were discussing this, I happened to mention that this kind of thing could lead do a Ph.D degree. So he started investigating what it would take. Apparently there are only two universities in the United States who offer this. However, Cambridge University in England is the premiere school. At the end you would know 3 or 4 esoteric languages, such as Hittite, Babylonian, paleo Hebrew, etc. And as your subject for the Ph.D, one of them is magic. My son said he would choose magic. So here is how it would go (the joke): Dr. Brown, in what subject did you get your Ph.D? He would answer: "Magic." We laughed and laughed and I hope all of you reading this get a hearty laugh also.

First, congratulations to your son (and proud mom) for taking on such an ambitious study. The daughter of my German penpal translates obscure languages in biblical writings and ancient journals for the U in Munich. It’s pretty laborious but gratifying!
The joke is hilarious. I can picture that scenario in one of the high brow soirées among his peers of profs. Here he knows all of these esoteric languages, probably reading obscure works from ancient writings and then becomes the evening’s entertainment with a little prestidigitation or lesson in potions! Good luck to him! 🪄🧙‍♂️

Thank you for your congratulations and for getting the joke. I wish I knew a way to forward your message to him. He had a couple of bad years, but thankfully found his way back to us and has just blossomed. We are so grateful.

You could try highlighting the reply, then copy and paste to a message or in an email. Then you can share it with him. I’m so happy to see he’s ‘finding his way’ in this world. Those late teen years and early 20s can be really difficult. If he’s found something unique that speaks to him, like learning and being immersed in these language studies, that’s really cool. My best wishes to him on his new endeavors! ☺️

@thisismarilynb Anyone who senses a liking for languages should definitely follow up on it! Even before high school, i realized how much I like different languages. By 12 I spoke Spanish fluently, and then learned German [so many veterinary books were first published in German!] One of my "hobbies" was translating books written in Spanish into German, and vice versa. The grammar is so radically different, and I loved the challenge. Later I learned American Sign Language. I would like to learn some dialect of Russian and Chinese, just for the challenge. My brother told me years ago I should have been a UN interpreter...
Ginger

I was walking past a farm and the sign said, “Duck, eggs.” I thought: “That’s an unnecessary comma.” - then it hit me.

@loribmt
No comment on joke.

Have any ducks come back yet for their portraits? I'm having duck portraits withdrawals.
Jake

Jake, I’m bummed to tell you I don’t have any new duck pics this year. I’ve seen very few actually. We have a couple of geese babies but it was very odd not to have ducks near us. I’m always on the look out for photo-ops of the little quackers for you.
Here’s an old one just for a quick fix… This one always makes me laugh.

Love this one! My granddaughter is a secondary English teacher and I can give this to her. She uses humor to illustrate the necessity for punctuation! Perfect!!

Where did Captain Hook buy his hook?
At a second hand store. 🤷🏻‍♀️