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", ''Keystone Folklore Quarterly'', Volume 15, Issue 1, 1970]
p. 3-15
/ref>
It is one of the four major types of riddles, according to Nigel F. Barley.[Nigel F. Barley, "Structural Aspects of the Anglo-Saxon Riddle", ''Semiotica'' 10 (2) (1974)] There are many cycles of jokes in the form of a conundrum, such as Elephant joke
An elephant joke is a joke cycle, almost always an absurd riddle or conundrum and often a sequence of such, that involves an elephant. Elephant jokes were a fad in the 1960s, with many people constructing large numbers of them according to a set f ...
s,[ " Why did the chicken cross the road?" and lightbulb jokes.
Joke cycles implying inferiority or other ]stereotype
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
s of certain categories of people, such as blonde jokes, or ethnic jokes (such as Pollack joke
Polonophobia, also referred to as anti-Polonism, ( pl, Antypolonizm), and anti-Polish sentiment are terms for negative attitudes, prejudices, and actions against Poles as an ethnic group, Poland as their country, and their culture. These incl ...
) have a considerable amount of joke riddles.[
]
Examples
* Elephant joke
An elephant joke is a joke cycle, almost always an absurd riddle or conundrum and often a sequence of such, that involves an elephant. Elephant jokes were a fad in the 1960s, with many people constructing large numbers of them according to a set f ...
* Lightbulb joke
* Newspaper riddle
The newspaper riddle is a riddle joke or conundrum in English that begins with the question:
:Q: What is black and white and red all over?
The traditional answer, which relies upon the identical pronunciation of the words "red" and "read", is:
:A ...
* " Why did the chicken cross the road?"
* Radio Yerevan jokes
The Radio Yerevan jokes, also known as the Armenian Radio jokes, have been popular in the Soviet Union and other countries of the former Communist Eastern bloc since the second half of the 20th century. These jokes of the Q&A type pretended to com ...
Abstract riddles
In areas which have historical ties with Asia Minor, such as Greece, Turkey, Armenia, of popularity are "abstract riddles" that follow templates: "What is this: A inside and B outside?" or "What is this: A is around and B in the middle?". For example:
References
Joke cycles
Riddles
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