Chicken Joke
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

"Why did the chicken cross the road?" is a common
riddle joke A riddle joke, joke riddle, pseudo-joke or conundrum is a riddle that does not expect the asked person to know the answer, but rather constitutes a set-up to the humorous punch line of the joke.Mac E. Barrick, "Racial Riddles & the Pollack Joke", ...
with the answer being "To get to the other side." It is commonly seen as an example of
anti-humor Anti-humor or anti-comedy is a type of alternative humor that is based on the surprise factor of absence of an expected joke or of a punch line in a narration that is set up as a joke, which in turn can have a humorous effect to some. This kin ...
, in that the curious setup of the joke leads the listener to expect a traditional punchline, but they are instead given a simple statement of fact. The joke has become iconic as an exemplary generic joke to which most people know the answer, and has been repeated and changed numerous times over the course of history.


History

The riddle appeared in an 1847 edition of ''
The Knickerbocker ''The Knickerbocker'', or ''New-York Monthly Magazine'', was a literary magazine of New York City, founded by Charles Fenno Hoffman in 1833, and published until 1865. Its long-term editor and publisher was Lewis Gaylord Clark, whose "Editor' ...
'', a New York City monthly magazine:
There are ' quips and quillets' which ''seem'' actual conundrums, but yet are none. Of such is this: 'Why does a chicken cross the street? Are you 'out of town?' Do you 'give it up?' Well, then: 'Because it wants to get on the other side!'
According to music critic
Gary Giddins Gary Giddins (born 1948) is an American jazz critic and author. He wrote for ''The Village Voice'' from 1973; his "Weather Bird" column ended in 2003. In 1986, Gary Giddins and John Lewis created the American Jazz Orchestra which presented conc ...
in the
Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture. His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV or the Nati ...
documentary ''Jazz'', the joke was spread through the United States by minstrel shows beginning in the 1840s as one of the first national jokes. In the 1890s, a
pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...
variant version appeared in the magazine ''Potter's American Monthly'':''Potter's American Monthly'' (1892), p. 319.
Why should not a chicken cross the road? It would be a
fowl Fowl are birds belonging to one of two biological orders, namely the gamefowl or landfowl ( Galliformes) and the waterfowl ( Anseriformes). Anatomical and molecular similarities suggest these two groups are close evolutionary relatives; toget ...
proceeding.


Variations

There are many riddles that assume a familiarity with this well-known riddle and its answer. For example, an alternate punchline can be used for the riddle, such as "it was too far to walk around". One class of variations enlists a creature other than the chicken to cross the road, in order to refer back to the original riddle. For example, a duck (or turkey) crosses "because it was the chicken's day off", and a dinosaur crosses "because chickens didn't exist yet". Some variants are both puns and references to the original, such as "Why did the duck cross the road? To prove he's no
chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...
". Other variations replace side with another word often to form a pun. Some examples are:
"Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the idiot's house.... Knock-knock." ("Who's there?") "The chicken." "Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide." "Why did the
chewing gum Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating. Its tex ...
cross the road? It was stuck to the chicken's foot." "Why did the whale cross the ocean? To get to the other tide." "Why did the dinosaur cross the road? Chickens didn't exist yet." "Why did
Darth Vader Darth Vader () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was first introduced in the original film trilogy as the primary antagonist and one of the leaders of the Galactic Empire. He has become one of the most iconic villain ...
cross the road? To get to the Dark Side." "Why did the chicken cross the
Möbius strip In mathematics, a Möbius strip, Möbius band, or Möbius loop is a Surface (topology), surface that can be formed by attaching the ends of a strip of paper together with a half-twist. As a mathematical object, it was discovered by Johann Bened ...
? To get to the same side."
As with the
lightbulb joke A lightbulb joke is a joke cycle that asks how many people of a certain group are needed to change, replace, or screw in a light bulb. Generally, the punch line answer highlights a stereotype of the target group. There are numerous versions of th ...
, variants on these themes are widespread.


References


Further reading

* Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road 1840s neologisms 1840s quotations 1840s in New York City Joke cycles Chickens Quotations from literature Riddles Works originally published in The Knickerbocker Articles titled with a question