Nam-ı Kemal jokes
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Nam-ı Kemal jokes are a variety of extremely obscene jokes in Turkish folk literature. The term "Nam-ı kemal" corresponds in Ottoman Turkish to the expression "A man...", as used in the beginning of a short and funny story in the English language. But the term went through an evolution in time due to its vocal similarity with the name of one of the most ground-breaking and famous poets and playwrights in the Turkish literature, Namık Kemal. With gradually less frequent use and weaker understanding of Ottoman terms among most speakers of standard Turkish, "Nam-ı kemal jokes" became, more often than not, "Namık Kemal jokes", although the respective natures of the content of these jokes and of the personality of the actual writer could not be further.
A number of sources claimed that the conversion of "Nam-ı kemal jokes" into "Namık Kemal jokes" could have been caused partly of intention, in the form of an alleged effort by the Ottoman palace that would have been aimed at discrediting the ever-dissident writer in the eyes of the public. The fact that the general public held the poet dearly and also that a vast network of spies was indeed present during Abdülhamid II's reign with potential to destroy anyone's good repute are elements that support this theory as far as the motives and the means are concerned, but its essence remains unverifiable.
The obscenity of the "Nam-ı kemal jokes" tradition is based mainly on phallic exaggerations.
[edit] Examples of Nam-ı Kemal jokes
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