Last Dingo Ate Your Baby Joke

I'm sure most of you heard about the horrific realization Australia's court came to that a dingo did in fact EAT a poor woman's baby. Problem was she had already served three years in prison after being convicted of killing her infant. Ok, they only proved the dingo killed the baby, it was the show Seinfeld that made the phrase "Maybe the dingo ate your baby" (and a 1980's Meryl Streep movie created about this very dingo-baby-mother-prison incident) so popular.

Jerk. Jerk Dingo.

I cannot count how many times I have left Big Booty Judy (BBJ) a text or voice mail message that said something along the lines of "A dingo ate your baby, bitch." This phrase was always funny, especially when said in an Australian accent, but now I feel like a jerk saying it. And, to further explain, I didn't know A Cry in the Dark existed; I was an infant myself when the movie came out. I only knew the Seinfeld reference. I thought it came from an amusing place. I should have known a craptastic show like Seinfeld would steer me wrong.

I once used it as our trivia team name when we were out at a bar with Nashville. It was that or the "Bea Arthur Fan Club." We had been the BAFC two weeks in a row and needed something new. Dingo-eating-baby joke it was.

So today, I vow to take any form of "Maybe the dingo ate your baby" out of my repertoire. And I will admit when I saw this story pop up on my Yahoo! main screen I said, "Oh, shit. The Dingo did eat her baby!" And I instantly wanted to call BBJ and leave my usual Australian-soaked voice mail.

But, once I thought it over, I realized how horrible it was that this woman not only lost her baby, but had to be ridiculed, accused of murdering her child, found convicted of the crime and lost three years of her life labeled as a "baby killer" for something she didn't do. For some reason that really stuck with me. And it's just not funny.

Even Lady J has a heart. And a line. This one is mine: no more dingo-baby jokes.

Author's Note: I know Seinfeld is a beloved show, but I never got it. The characters sucked, I wouldn't have been friends with any of them and Jerry Seinfeld seriously has one of the most annoying voices / stand-up routines of all time. He's just not funny--he likes to complain. Elaine's hair always bothered me-- who told her that looked good?! The Soup Nazi was the only memorable episode for me. To all the Dane Cook haters out there I suggest you turn your attention towards Jerry Seinfeld.