Heh - Pelosi Edition

So... a friend sends along this bit about San Fran Nan, the Gift That Keeps On Giving Even Tho We Wish She Would QUIT:

A VERY GOOD EXAMPLE OF THE KIND OF REPRESENTATION WE HAVE IN CONGRESS, TRUE STORY:

A noted psychiatrist was a guest speaker at an academic function where Nancy Pelosi happened to appear. Ms Pelosi took the opportunity to schmooze the good doctor a bit and asked him a question with which he was most at ease.

'Would you mind telling me, Doctor,' she asked, 'how you detect a mental deficiency in somebody who appears completely normal?'

'Nothing is easier,' he replied. 'You ask a simple question which anyone should answer with no trouble. If the person hesitates, that puts you on the track.'

'What sort of question?' asked Pelosi.

Well, you might ask, 'Captain Cook made three trips around the world and died during one of them. Which one?''

Pelosi thought a moment, and then said with a nervous laugh, 'You wouldn't happen to have another example would you? I must confess I don't know much about history.'

I immediately head on over to Snopes, trusting soul that I am about "True stories!" circulated over these here inter-tubes.  I find this ol' joke has been around since at least 1962.  That would be in printed form, of course, and not of the inter-tube variety.  And there are variations on the theme, too.  Like this:

A noted psychiatrist was a guest speaker at an academic function, and John took the opportunity to schmooze the good doctor a bit.

"Would you mind telling me, Doctor," he asked, "how you detect insanity in somebody who appears completely sane?"

"Nothing is easier," he replied. "You give them a simple task which anyone should be able to complete with no trouble. If they make the wrong choice in completing the task, you have a good idea they're not sane."

"What sort of task?"

"Well, you might present them with a bathtub that's full of water and tell them they have to empty it. Then you give them a teaspoon, a coffee mug, and a mop bucket."

"Oh, I see!" John exclaimed. "If the guy's crazy, he might try emptying the tub with the spoon or the coffee mug, but a sane person would use the mop bucket."

"Give me a call on Monday, John, I'd like to run a few additional tests." The doctor handed John his card. "A sane person would pull the plug."

Heh.