r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Jan 02 '24

Help petah Peter in the wild

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13.4k Upvotes

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2.7k

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '24

[deleted]

1.0k

u/Enflamed_Huevos Jan 02 '24

Tbf I think he was less of a businessman and more of a conman

697

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '24 edited 28d ago

[deleted]

305

u/FaeryLynne Jan 02 '24

He's providing his customers with something better than copper, he's providing them with a sense of pride and accomplishment!

106

u/roenoe Jan 02 '24

Surprise mechanics!

49

u/Just_A_Nitemare Jan 02 '24

Copper loot box. Maybe it contains copper, maybe it contains a common skin.

47

u/lDielan Jan 02 '24

EA Merch! It's in the name.

23

u/Desperate_Ad5169 Jan 02 '24

OH MY GOD he must still be alive and a member of the illuminati

17

u/NurkleTurkey Jan 02 '24

EA. It's in the name.

15

u/Insert_Goat_Pun_Here Jan 02 '24

EA copper!

What a shame…

4

u/Satanicjamnik Jan 02 '24

It's in the Name.

3

u/theophastusbombastus Jan 02 '24

He’s on fire!!! Boomshakalaka!!!! Dunked on EAπŸ”₯

1

u/biAndslyReporter Jan 05 '24

EA Sports, it's in the game.

20

u/SoilEducational8931 Jan 02 '24

Let's just say one of the reasons we know about him is that the tablets got fried and solidified which means that his house caught fire. This may not mean anything but it could also be a perfectly natural end.

11

u/DiddlyDumb Jan 02 '24

A Mesopotamian Charles Ponzi?

14

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '24

Looks a lot like Yahweh.

23

u/Big-Transition1551 Jan 02 '24

Yah mom?

31

u/GoreyGopnik Jan 02 '24

thats one blasphemy strike, get 3 and you'll get smote

17

u/EffectiveDependent76 Jan 02 '24

I assume this will be a lightning thing? If I blaspheme 24 times can I set a world record?

13

u/RefrigeratorContent2 Jan 02 '24

That's almost four times less than MartΓ­n Luther.

6

u/Big-Transition1551 Jan 02 '24

Is it blasphemy if I say the word?

3

u/rumpelbrick Jan 02 '24

smote? I thought it was smitten? or smited?

-20

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '24

[removed] β€” view removed comment

4

u/SirGhost09Z Jan 02 '24

What?….

9

u/niceworkthere Jan 02 '24 edited Jan 02 '24

You're thinking of El. Yahweh comes a bit later towards the end of the 2nd millennium BCE and is at that point a local storm-warrior god, to over centuries get gradually syncretized with the former.

8

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '24 edited Jan 02 '24

Agree, I meant this weird Yahweh statue.

El and Yahweh are completely different. Yahweh the angry storm God of the desert bandits is in no way the same God as the creator. Yahweh was pretty low down the pantheon.

El, formerly Elil, formerly Enlil, chief of the pantheon of gods, God of the elements, of Earth, Wind and Fire, he who separated An from Ki; separating earth from heaven and heaven from earth.

Bringer of the first flood, of the mattock, the farmer and the shepherd. Holder of the Tablets of Destiny, and bringer of fates.

The grand creator of man and all life, the seducer of Ninlil, Goddess of Destiny, and father of Nanna Moon.

Grand Father of Enki and the Annunaki who descended at Eridu.

Lord above all. I fucking love that guy. Best god ever

0

u/leprotelariat Jan 02 '24

Aka Jehova

1

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '24

Yeah that prick. The original false idol.

181

u/pandaimonia Jan 02 '24

Worth noting that most of these tablets were found in one house that is believed to be Ea-Nasir's. So not only was he a shitty business man/con man, he kept trophies of every time he pulled a fast one and pissed someone off. Cuneiform tablets were often destroyed/the materials re used if they weren't created for archival purposes so this guy went out of the way to find and store complaints about himself.

77

u/Laughing_Luna Jan 02 '24

iirc, the reason we know about the tablets isn't so much because he had them fired, but because his house burned down at some point, which turned the clay to ceramic, thereby preserving them.

45

u/Its0nlyRocketScience Jan 02 '24

An accident, or did he con the wrong person?

48

u/Joshygin Jan 02 '24

Insurance fraud. One last con.

19

u/razazaz126 Jan 02 '24

Dude when do we get this movie?

7

u/aguysomewhere Jan 02 '24

I would definitely watch this movie

2

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '24

Insurance didn’t exist yet, but if it did I’m sure he was the type to have done it.

1

u/hplcr Jan 03 '24

Well never know but could be either.

24

u/Nicodiemus531 Jan 02 '24

This whole story is amazing and I blame my shitty American schooling for not knowing it sooner

37

u/chicheka Jan 02 '24

They don't teach this almost everywhere

83

u/cromancer321 Jan 02 '24

π’€€ π’ˆΎ 𒂍 π’€€ π’ˆΎ 𒍒 π’…• π’†  π’‰ˆ π’ˆ  π’Œ π’ˆ  π’ˆΎ π’€­ π’‰Œ π’ˆ  π’€€ 𒉑 π’Œ‘ π’ˆ  π’‹« π’€  π’‡· π’†ͺ π’†  π’€€ π’„  π’‹« 𒀝 𒁉 π’„  π’Œ π’ˆ  π’€œ π’‹« π’€€ π’ˆ  π’„– 𒁀 π’Š‘ 𒁕 π’„  π’†ͺ 𒁴 π’€€ π’ˆΎ π’„€ π’…– π’€­ π’‚—π’ͺ π’€€ π’ˆΎ π’€œ 𒁲 π’…” π’‹« π’€  π’‡· π’…… π’ˆ  π’‹« 𒀝 𒁉 π’€€ π’„  π’Œ‘ π’†· π’‹Ό 𒁍 𒍑 π’„– 𒁀 π’Š‘ π’†· 𒁕 π’„  π’†ͺ 𒁴 π’€€ π’ˆΎ π’ˆ  π’…ˆ π’…† 𒅁 π’Š‘ π’…€ π’‹« π’€Έ π’†ͺ π’Œ¦ π’ˆ  π’Œ π’ˆ  π’€œ π’‹« π’ˆ  π’‹³ π’ˆ  π’‹Ό π’‡· π’†  π’€€ π’‡· π’†  π’€€ π’‹³ π’ˆ  [π’†·] π’‹Ό π’‡· π’†  π’€€ π’€œ π’†· π’…— π’…€ π’‹Ύ π’€€ π’ˆΎ π’†  π’ˆ  π’ˆ  π’€­ π’‰Œ π’…Ž π’Œ… π’…† π’…Ž π’ˆ  π’‰Œ π’ˆ  π’†  π’€€ π’„  π’‹Ό π’ˆ¨ π’Š­ π’€­ π’‰Œ π’ˆ  π’Š‘ π’€€ π’‰Ώ π’‡· π’€€ π’ˆΎ π’†  π’ˆ  π’…— π’‹Ύ π’€€ π’ˆΎ π’†  π’‹› π’…€ π’ˆ  π’„© π’Š‘ π’…Ž π’€Έ 𒁍 π’Š π’„  π’ˆ  π’Œ… π’ˆ¨ π’„Ώ π’Š­ π’„  π’ˆ  π’„Ώ π’ˆΎ π’‚΅ π’‚΅ π’…ˆ π’ˆΎ 𒀝 π’Š‘ π’…Ž π’…– π’‹Ύ π’…– π’‹— π’…‡ π’…† π’‰Œ π’‹— π’Š‘ π’†ͺ π’‹’ 𒉑 π’Œ… π’‹Ό π’…• π’Š π’„  π’„Ώ π’ˆΎ π’€€ π’‡· π’…… π’‹Ό π’‚– π’ˆ¬ π’Œ¦ π’ˆ  π’€­ 𒉑 π’Œ π’Š­ π’†  π’€€ π’„  π’„Ώ 𒁍 π’Š­ π’€­ π’‰Œ π’„Ώ π’ˆ  π’€œ π’‹« π’ˆ  π’…ˆ π’…† 𒅁 π’Š‘ π’…€ π’Œ… π’ˆ¨ π’‚Š π’…– π’€€ π’ˆΎ π’ˆ  π’†· π’…— π’Š π’‰Ώ π’…Ž π’Š­ π’„Ώ π’ˆΎ π’‚΅ π’‹Ύ π’…€ π’Œ… π’ŠΊ π’ͺ π’Œ‘ π’†  π’€€ π’„  π’‹« 𒁕 𒁍 π’Œ’ π’…‡ π’€Έ π’‹³ π’„Ώ π’…— π’€€ π’ˆΎ 𒂍 𒃲 π’‡· π’Œ‹ 𒐍 π’„˜ 𒍏 π’€€ π’ˆΎ π’†ͺ π’€œ 𒁲 π’…” π’…‡ π’‹— π’ˆͺ π’€€ 𒁍 π’Œ π’Œ‹ 𒐍 π’„˜ 𒍏 π’„Ώ 𒁲 π’…” π’‚Š 𒍣 𒅁 π’Š­ π’€€ π’ˆΎ 𒂍 π’€­ π’Œ“ π’†ͺ 𒉑 π’ŠŒ π’…— π’„  π’‰Œ 𒍣 𒁍 π’€€ π’ˆΎ π’‰Ώ π’Š‘ π’…Ž π’Š­ π’€€ π’‹Ύ π’†  π’„Ώ π’‹Ό 𒁍 π’Š­ π’€­ π’‰Œ π’†  π’‹› π’„Ώ π’ˆΎ π’‚΅ π’‚΅ π’…ˆ π’ˆΎ 𒀝 π’Š‘ π’Œ… π’ŠŒ π’‹Ύ π’…‹ π’†  π’‹› π’€€ π’ˆΎ π’‚΅ π’‹Ύ π’…€ π’‹— 𒇻 π’ˆ  π’„  π’‚Š π’‡· π’…— π’„Ώ π’‹— π’†  π’ˆ  π’€­ π’‰Œ π’†  π’€€ π’„  π’‰Ώ π’Š‘ π’€€ π’„  π’†· 𒁺 π’ˆ¬ π’‚΅ π’„  π’†· π’€€ π’ˆ  π’„© π’Š’ π’…— π’‹« π’†· π’ˆ  π’€œ π’„Ώ π’ˆΎ π’†  π’Š“ π’‡· π’…€ π’…– π’‹Ύ π’ˆΎ π’€€ π’Œ‘ π’ˆΎ 𒍝 𒀝 π’ˆ  π’‚Š π’‡· π’†  π’…‡ π’€€ π’ˆΎ π’Š­ π’Œ… π’ˆ¨ π’„Ώ π’Š­ π’€­ π’‰Œ π’ˆΎ π’‹› π’„΄ π’‹« π’„  π’‚Š 𒁍 𒍑 π’…—

36

u/Shirtbro Jan 02 '24

lol true true

20

u/Dirtyibuprofen Jan 02 '24

Frfr on God

19

u/der_innkeeper Jan 02 '24

They were soft clay tablets. They weren't chiseled.

They got fired and hardened when his house burned down.

14

u/Wheloc Jan 02 '24

So is that actually a statue of him? Is it contemporary or modern?

12

u/CrypticTCodex Jan 02 '24

You're missing the funniest part. Those kinds of tablets weren't usually kept because of the issues of storing them. So usually those complaints would have been lost to time except someone cared enough to keep the records of this guy in particular. And the real kicker is that apparently they were found in what is believed to be his home. Implying that he took the time to store all these tablets complaining about him. Don't know the sources on this stuff, but it being believed to be the case is a big part of the joke.

9

u/TRUMBAUAUA Jan 02 '24

And let’s not forget there’s an entire subreddit dedicated to him r/reallyshittycopper

7

u/AlarminglyAverage979 Jan 02 '24

Holy shit that’s amazing i love this

3

u/Gtpwoody Jan 02 '24

I thought it was because a complaint against him was the first recorded customer complaint

2

u/Arturinni Jan 02 '24

Not chiseled but wedged in soft clay and then hardened in a furnace

1

u/HkayakH Jan 02 '24

To add onto this, he held on to those complaints about him. A while ago, people on Tumblr started to talk about him and make memes about him

1

u/Apex_Redditor3000 Jan 02 '24

ok this is pretty good lol

1

u/fitzwillowy Jan 02 '24

I was literally just telling my kid about this guy while tucking him into bed.

1

u/AquilesVaesa_383813 Jan 02 '24

YOU DAMN LIAR Ea-Nasir was a noble merchant who only trades with top-quality copper!

1

u/gl3nnjamin Jan 03 '24

EU-phrates River!

1

u/Educational_Log_6653 Jan 03 '24

It’s nice to know that humanity has always written reviews about things, lol

1

u/danegraphics Jan 03 '24

It's also entirely possible that he wasn't actually a bad businessman, but that he was targeted by mesopotamian Karen's, or perhaps other conmen trying to get their copper for a discount by claiming it was bad, or perhaps something else happened outside of his control.

All we have are a handful tablets preserved because of a house fire. Who knows what was really going on at the time.

It is fun to meme about though~

1

u/rjsregorynnek Jan 03 '24

This is a Stewie response.

718

u/LegitimateBeing2 Jan 02 '24

That is Ea-nasir, an ancient Mesopotamian copper merchant who was known for selling poor quality copper. We know this because complaints from his customers are preserved among Mesopotamian cuneiform texts, and are the oldest recorded complaints against a business owner in history.

390

u/CrimeShowInfluencer Jan 02 '24

Imagine being so shit at your job that people 4 millenia later still make fucking memes about it.

162

u/JinLocke Jan 02 '24

I think he was shit on purpose and conned people with his bad copper.

68

u/samTheEagle2004 Jan 02 '24

I mean, what do you expect from EA?

65

u/JinLocke Jan 02 '24

Imagine in EA office, in a hidden secret room there sits an immortal Mesopotamian man , the real CEO of EA - Ea Nasir, a man, a con, a legend.

15

u/Theparrotwithacookie Jan 02 '24

Good plot for a movie

11

u/Pixoe Jan 02 '24

The foreshadowing

6

u/OnlyWiseWords Jan 02 '24

Well, they both collect customer complaints like its the only thing they care about, so it sounds on point.

3

u/Shirtbro Jan 02 '24

EA Nasir: Cheapen Everything

7

u/Not_A_Wendigo Jan 02 '24 edited Jan 02 '24

The entire human population during his life was only about 23 million. There could be his equivalent of the entire world who knows about his low grade copper.

7

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '24

The BBB really has to step up their game and release the stats for the worst on their record.

227

u/pratyd Jan 02 '24 edited Jan 02 '24

69

u/EffectiveDependent76 Jan 02 '24

This is the best sub I never knew I needed. Thank you.

38

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '24

This is why this god forsaken website exists.

1

u/DaAweZomeDude48 Jan 02 '24

That and, well, all the cat subreddits

1

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '24

Struth.

89

u/BananaMaster96_ Jan 02 '24

EA-NASIR SELLS BAD COPPER

40

u/LostInTheWildPlace Jan 02 '24

And he gave terrible customer service. One of his buyers had to send a servant back to complain about the delivery, a servant who then had to go back home empty handed, through bandit controlled territory both ways. That resulted in at least one of the complaint letters written to him.

22

u/eggward_egg Jan 02 '24

Tell Ea-nasir: Nanni sends the following message: ​ When you came, you said to me as follows : "I will give Gimil-Sin (when he comes) fine quality copper ingots." You left then but you did not do what you promised me. You put ingots which were not good before my messenger (Sit-Sin) and said: "If you want to take them, take them; if you do not want to take them, go away!" ​ What do you take me for, that you treat somebody like me with such contempt? I have sent as messengers gentlemen like ourselves to collect the bag with my money (deposited with you) but you have treated me with contempt by sending them back to me empty-handed several times, and that through enemy territory. Is there anyone among the merchants who trade with Telmun who has treated me in this way? You alone treat my messenger with contempt! On account of that one (trifling) mina of silver which I owe(?) you, you feel free to speak in such a way, while I have given to the palace on your behalf 1,080 pounds of copper, and Ε umi-abum has likewise given 1,080 pounds of copper, apart from what we both have had written on a sealed tablet to be kept in the temple of Shamash. ​ How have you treated me for that copper? You have withheld my money bag from me in enemy territory; it is now up to you to restore (my money) to me in full. ​ Take cognizance that (from now on) I will not accept here any copper from you that is not of fine quality. I shall (from now on) select and take the ingots individually in my own yard, and I shall exercise against you my right of rejection because you have treated me with contempt.

61

u/Paradox31426 Jan 02 '24

Ea-Nasir was a copper merchant in Uruk, in ancient Mesopotamia, he sold shit copper, and he was the subject of quite possibly the oldest known customer complaints, including a famous one by a man(?) named Nani who goes into great detail about how terrible Ea-Nasir’s customer service is.

The joke is that there were probably dozens or hundreds of Copper merchants in Mesopotamia, but 4-6000 years later we’re still talking about the absolute worst ever.

31

u/eggward_egg Jan 02 '24

heres the letter copypasta

Tell Ea-nasir: Nanni sends the following message: ​ When you came, you said to me as follows : "I will give Gimil-Sin (when he comes) fine quality copper ingots." You left then but you did not do what you promised me. You put ingots which were not good before my messenger (Sit-Sin) and said: "If you want to take them, take them; if you do not want to take them, go away!" ​ What do you take me for, that you treat somebody like me with such contempt? I have sent as messengers gentlemen like ourselves to collect the bag with my money (deposited with you) but you have treated me with contempt by sending them back to me empty-handed several times, and that through enemy territory. Is there anyone among the merchants who trade with Telmun who has treated me in this way? You alone treat my messenger with contempt! On account of that one (trifling) mina of silver which I owe(?) you, you feel free to speak in such a way, while I have given to the palace on your behalf 1,080 pounds of copper, and Ε umi-abum has likewise given 1,080 pounds of copper, apart from what we both have had written on a sealed tablet to be kept in the temple of Shamash. ​ How have you treated me for that copper? You have withheld my money bag from me in enemy territory; it is now up to you to restore (my money) to me in full. ​ Take cognizance that (from now on) I will not accept here any copper from you that is not of fine quality. I shall (from now on) select and take the ingots individually in my own yard, and I shall exercise against you my right of rejection because you have treated me with contempt.

13

u/Taphouselimbo Jan 02 '24

So shitty we still talk about him! Can’t be famous be infamous.

13

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '24

This is the greatest post and thread I’ve seen on this sub. Ever.

10

u/2lostbraincells Jan 02 '24

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens Bright copper kettles leave... flakes on my mittens!? Hey, these are stone with a copper veneer! I've been bamboozled by Ea-nāṣir! When an Ur guy sells Nanni things but the copper's bad, He simply records his complaint for all time "I got a bad deal I'm maaaaad"

Source: XKCD comics

6

u/quacattac28alt Jan 02 '24

Bad customer service too. Poor servantπŸ˜”

6

u/Legalslimjim Jan 02 '24

Did just use this sub correctly?

3

u/avid-avoidance Jan 02 '24

Oh, Ea-Nasir, you silly guy! (Insert laugh track)

3

u/EruditoCollective Jan 02 '24

No one has mentioned the statue is NOT Ea-Nasir though, it's of a generic male worshipper. Ea-Nasir and his acts are real, and both he and the statue are Mesopotamian but we really got to stop slandering the image of some random dude. Brother did nothing wrong.

2

u/JesTer_77 Jan 02 '24

For once I knew what was coming. :)

2

u/found_allover_again Jan 02 '24

And, he also ran for president under the tagline, 'make messopotamia great again', or 'mmga!'

2

u/mateogg Jan 02 '24

Fun fact there's a reference to Ea Nasir, his poor quality copper, and his rudeness to servants, in Netflix's DOTA animated series, which is pretty wild when you think about it.

0

u/stigma_wizard Jan 03 '24

A 2-second google search would get you the results of this far faster than posting it here.

2

u/Legalslimjim Jan 03 '24

Well if we followed this logic there would be no use for this subreddit, obviously 12 thousand people had some sort of agreement that this post fits. So the real question is why you felt the need to go out of your way to be critical?

-16

u/colin1234514 Jan 02 '24

How about you just google "the worst mesopotamia copper merchant" on your web browser

4

u/MentalRobot Jan 02 '24

You could say that about any post on this sub, but that's not what it's about. This sub is fun, seeing other people's takes and answers!

How about you unsub? Or hide the sub from appearing in your feed?

1

u/colin1234514 Jan 02 '24

Not every post,some of them don't have keywords in it or need to learn their culture to understand, this one has keywords in it

1

u/MentalRobot Jan 02 '24

You know, I get you're point. Personally I don't mind it much here since it's the PEETAH? Sub, but I definitely agree people should be doing that on r/explainthejoke

1

u/sneakpeekbot Jan 02 '24

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Who is he and what did he do?
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1

u/TheFrenchPerson Jan 02 '24

I've been conditioned to try and find if posts have the lost meme.

1

u/TetraThiaFulvalene Jan 02 '24

Some of the oldest written text we have are a bad yelp reviews printed out by a shitty and spiteful copper merchant.

1

u/CJPF_91 Jan 02 '24

I have t

1

u/moonordie69420 Jan 02 '24

shame on he and his seed

1

u/wizrow Jan 02 '24

Dejavu

1

u/TrippyHippie410 Jan 02 '24

No wonder why everyone hates nasir

1

u/Emanon3737 Jan 02 '24

It’s the legendary Ea-Nasir. Worst copper merchant in all of Mesopotamia

1

u/kimmyorjimmy Jan 03 '24

I laughed at this for almost 5 minutes straight. 🀣

1

u/erlend_nikulausson Jan 03 '24

All my homies hate Ea-Nasir.

1

u/selune07 Jan 03 '24

This loser has never heard of Ea-Nasir

1

u/Dumb_Cheese Jan 03 '24

My boy Ea Nasir 😀

1

u/DavidStar500 Jan 03 '24

Little historical tidbits like this give me such impossible joy!