Dead Parrot sketch of "Death in Paradise". A joke dated AD 400, recently translated from Greek, shows similarities to the Parrot sketch. It was written by Hierocles and Philagrius and was included in a compilation of 265 jokes titled "Philogelos: The Laugh Addict". In the Greek version, a man complains to a slave-merchant that his new slave has died. The slave-merchant replies, "When he was with me, he never did any such thing!" In Mark Twain's humorous short story "A Nevada Funeral", two characters use a series of euphemisms for death including 'kicked the bucket' and 'departed to that mysterious country from whose
Elegant parrot Elegant parrot The elegant parrot ("Neophema elegans") is a species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It is endemic to Australia. The elegant parrot was originally named by the renowned ornithologist and artist John Gould in 1837, its specific name Latin for "elegant". It is one of six species of grass parrot in the genus "Neophema", and within it a member of the subgenus "Neonanodes". Its common name is elegant parrot, but has also been called elegant parakeet, elegant grass parakeet, and grass parrot in the past. The elegant parrot is long and predominantly golden olive in colour with a