All-in, Gentlemen?
Ciao everyone! Welcome back to the blog, I hope that you’re ready for some more jokes. Here’s the next one:
Did you hear about the weekly poker game with Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, Leif Erikson, and Francisco Pizarro?
They can never seem to beat the Straights of Magellan!
This is an advanced joke and I rate it a 9.75/10 because of its historical reference. I thought it was funny and I hope you all did too!
I really enjoy history jokes, and discussing historical events in general, so when I had first heard this joke, I knew I had to share it. It’s evident that Ferdinand Magellan is world-renowned, quite literally in this sense.
But what else is there to know about this famous explorer?
Ferdinand Magellan was born in 1480 in Sabrosa, Portugal. As a young lad, Magellan traveled to Lisbon to work in Queen Leonora’s court. There, Magellan was exposed to the tales of great sailors at time, which inspired him to gain more knowledge about sailing and navigation. Magellan grew up to sail for the Portuguese with his brother, traveling to India and Africa during the lucrative Spice Trade.
Black pepper, clove, and other spices were acquired in the Western Hemisphere and resulted in the Portuguese dominating world trade. By now, Magellan grew to be a skilled sailor. Most world superpowers voyaged to the “Spice Islands” by sailing east, but no one had sailed from the West and reached the other side of the globe, which catalyzed Magellan’s dream. Talk about Mr. Worldwide.
When Portugal denied Magellan’s next charter for his ideal voyage, he abruptly abandoned his country to sail for Spain, where he was granted permission. On August 10, 1519, Magellan and the Armada De Moluccas of Spain set sail. In the fleet, there was Magellan’s ship, the Trinidad, as well as the San Antonio, the Conception, the Victoria, and the Santiago.
Rough seas led to an arduous trip across the Atlantic Ocean in order to reach South America, and seasonal storms ravaged the path to the Strait of Magellan, located in Southern Chile. While sailing through the Mar Pacifico, named by Magellan, and later titled the Pacific Ocean, the fleet sailed towards the Philippines. However, in a dangerous battle with locals in 1521, Magellan was shot with a poison arrow and died soon after. This tragedy, however, didn’t stop the fleet from achieving their goal of completely circumnavigating the globe, with Ferdinand Magellan there in spirit.
But how does this relate to poker? Why does the Strait of Magellan correlate to a popular card game?
Well, when playing a game of poker, the best hand wins. A straight is a strong hand to have when betting, where you have five cards (from a standard deck) all in numerical order, regardless of their suit.
Straight and Strait are homophones, and therefore, suffices as the play on words for this joke. Since the other famous explorers, like da Gama, Columbus, Erikson, and Pizarro weren’t the first to amount the great achievement of traveling the world in its entirety, they’re pictured as “losers” in the metaphorical poker game. Perhaps next time they’ll change their bets when given higher stakes.
Now, it’s my turn to make like a tree and get out of here. Until next time my jokers!
References: History.com Editors. “Ferdinand Magellan.” History.com, A&E Television Networks,
29 Oct. 2009, www.history.com/topics/exploration/ferdinand-magellan.
I’m gonna be honest. I don’t really get it. But again I loved reading the historical portion of your blog!