Nam-ı Kemal jokes ( tr, Nâm-ı Kemâl fıkraları) are a variety of

dirty jokes Off-color humor (also known as vulgar humor, crude humor, or shock humor) is humor that deals with topics that may be considered to be in poor taste or vulgar. Many comedic genres (including jokes, prose, poems, black comedy, blue comedy, insult c ...

Turkish folk literature Turkish folk literature is an oral tradition deeply rooted, in its form, in Central Asian nomadic traditions. However, in its themes, Turkish folk literature reflects the problems peculiar to a settling (or settled) people who have abandoned the ...

that originated during the

Ottoman era The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. The phrase "nam-ı Kemal" corresponds in the archaic

Ottoman Turkish language Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...

to the phrase " mannamed Kemal", i.e. a generic and unconventionally humorous everyman. However, due to their name's vocal similarity with the name of one of the most foremost figures in

Turkish literature Turkish literature ( tr, Türk edebiyatı) comprises oral compositions and written texts in Turkic languages. The Ottoman and Azerbaijani forms of Turkish, which forms the basis of much of the written corpus, were highly influenced by Persian la ...

, the poet and playwright

Namık Kemal Namık Kemal (21 December 1840 – 2 December 1888) was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Democracy, democrat, writer, intellectual, reformer, journalist, playwright, and Political activism, political activist who was influential in the formation of ...

(1840–1888), the jokes underwent an evolution. With the growing obscurity of Ottoman terms among most speakers of modern

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

, "nam-ı Kemal jokes" became, more often than not, "Namık Kemal jokes", an example of a

mondegreen A mondegreen () is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning. Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to hear a lyric clearly, substitutes w ...

. The obscenity of the "nam-ı Kemal jokes" tradition is based mainly on

phallic A phallus is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic. Any object that symbolically—or, more precisely ...

exaggerations.

References

Off-color humor Turkish culture {{Turkey-culture-stub