J is for Jackass

A jackass is a male donkey. Unlike many of the animals I have featured in this A to Z challenge such as sharks and hippos, most of us have experienced this animal at close quarters, at some time or another. We may have even ridden on one. When you grew up in Britain and the highlight of your summer is a chilly day at Weston-Super-Mud, the donkey ride may have been the highlight of your childhood possibly.

At least until the donkey refused to move. And you ended up with a complex that was with you for the rest of your life. I digress. Candy floss is also a very traumatic thing.

(Oscar Panther)

There are actually 40 million domestic donkeys in the world and they are seen as the poor man's fashion accessory, even more so than owning a Yugo.

A male donkey or ass is called a jack, a female is called a jenny or jennet. Jack donkeys and female horses are used to produce mules. All of them can be pretty stubborn, a quality I see as admirable. If you know a couple called Jack and Jenny, you can bet they'll be asses. I'm not sure where Jill comes into the picture.

Donkeys have been domesticated since 3000 BC or thereabouts. The ancestors of the modern donkey are the Nubian and Somalian subspecies of African wild ass. In ancient Egypt the number you owned was a sign of prosperity.

Donkeys are widely used in agriculture and even in warfare. The New Zealand Medical Corps used donkeys to rescue wounded soldiers from the battlefield at Gallipoli, during World War One. The Italian army, never the finest fighting force since the days of ancient Rome, used them widely. Although it's said an army marches on its stomach, in this case the soldiers marched on their asses, because the donkeys were also used for meat.

The Jewish people wouldn't approve because donkeys aren't considered Kosher. But they play a prominent role in the Bible.

An Old Testament prophesy, has the Messiah arriving on a donkey: "Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey!" it says.

"With the rise of Christianity, some believers came to see the cross-shaped marking present on donkeys' backs and shoulders as a symbol of the animal's bearing Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, " states Wikipedia. "During the Middle Ages, Europeans used hairs from this cross (or contact with a donkey) as folk remedies to cure illness, including measles and whooping cough.

Donkeys (Rylee Isitt)

In the 15th Century one doctor even listed riding backwards on a donkey as a cure for scorpion stings, tempting me to make the obvious ass backwards joke.

There are too many references to donkeys in literature and film to list here. Shakespeare derided them as stupid in a Midsummer Night's Dream; Cervantes Don Quixote puts a better spin on them and the dour Eeyore in Winnie the Poo is perhaps the most famous literary donkey of them all.

Donkeys also feature in politics. Opponents and satirists depicted U.S. President Andrew Jackson as a "Jackass." Jackson liked the insult and the donkey later became the symbol of the Democratic party. See J is for Jacksonian, Jackass.

Useless Fact About the Jackass

The word donkey replaced ass from 18th century, as society became more polite. Rooster also replaced cock at this time.

What Not to Say to a Jackass

Are you feeling a little hoarse?