People are just discovering the oldest joke in history is actually a dirty fart joke that's 4000 years old

The world's oldest known joke dates back to 1900 and yes, it's about farting.

It turns out, despite 1900 being yonks ago, the world's humor hasn't matured much since then, and the very first joke known on record is tragically yet hilariously, but also pretty predictably, a fart joke.

The Guinness World Records reveals that TV channel Dave commissioned Universty of Wolverhampton's School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences' senior lecturer Dr Paul McDonald and his team to carry out research on what the world's oldest joke is in 2008 - with the study being called the Dave Historical Humor Study.

The team spent two months researching the history of jokes - a joke defined by the study as 'having a clear set-up and punch line structure'.

And the research came up with some pretty hilarious results.

The oldest recorded joke dates to 1900 (Getty Stock Images/ Tara Moore)

Dr McDonald explained, as quoted by Guinness World Records' site, that the definition 'enabled the team to plot the history of the joke as far back as 1900 BC'.

The oldest joke on record was discovered on 'tablets from the Old Babylonian period' but may 'date back as far as 2,300 BC'.

Records show it was said by those in ancient Sumer - an area now known as southern Iraq - and is a proverb warning new husbands about their brides.

But what is the oldest joke known to exist? Well, it goes something along the lines of: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap."

And it's not taken long for people to flood to social media to weigh in.

Many years have passed since 1900 BCE but apparently the world's humor is just the same (Getty Stock Images/ Peter Dazeley)

One Twitter user said: "Hard to believe the oldest recorded joke is a fart joke."

"The oldest joke in history is indeed a fart joke," another added.

Reflecting on the study's findings as a whole, Dr McDonald resolved, as quoted by Reuters: "Jokes have varied over the years, with some taking the question and answer format while others are witty proverbs or riddles.

"[...] The results provide a unique and compelling insight into how jokes have evolved over the years, both globally and in the UK.

"[...] What they all share however, is a willingness to deal with taboos and a degree of rebellion.

"Modern puns, Essex girl jokes and toilet humor can all be traced back to the very earliest jokes identified in this research."

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