What are the origins of some of the more popular long standing jokes?
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ucme (
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September 22nd, 2010
Oh you know the kind of which I speak. Knock knock jokes for example. Or the “Why did the chicken cross the road”? gag. Interested as to how & why these & other jokes intergrated themselves into folklore. Indeed what makes them so enduring if not endearing to a generation of kids & adults alike? Feel free to add your own examples of these particular jokes, but what i’m really after is the history behind them. Thanks!
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8 Answers
Not this road, he didn’t!
@hawaii_jake Yes, less of a chicken more of a Bombay duck I imagine. Yummy! :¬)
She was afraid someone would caesar!
To prove to the possum it could actually be done!
A man was driving along a freeway when he noticed a chicken running alongside his car. He was amazed to see the chicken keeping up with him, as he was doing 50 mph. He accelerated to 60, and the chicken stayed right next to him. He sped up to 75 mph, and the chicken passed him. The man noticed that the chicken had three legs. So he followed the chicken down a road and ended up at a farm. He got out of his car and saw that all the chickens had three legs. He asked the farmer, “What’s up with these chickens?” The farmer said “Well, everybody likes chicken legs, so I bred a three-legged bird. I’m going to be a millionaire.” The man asked him how they tasted. The farmer said, “Don’t know, haven’t caught one yet.”
Just to clarify a point. I edited my question in response to a probably deserved moderation. Hope this clears up any unwanted confusion & distraction. Actually happier now, in my eyes that’s a damn fine question. Hastily rearranged at that. Anyway yeah, do carry on :¬)
@ucme yeah, i checked your post and became confused. Will get back with you. That is interesting.
Thought this was really interesting.
Jokes have been a part of human culture since at least 1900 BC. A fart joke from ancient Sumer is currently believed to be the world’s oldest known joke[1]
A recent discovery of a document called Philogelos (The Laughter Lover) gives us an insight into ancient humour. Written in Greek by Hierocles and Philagrius, it dates to the third or fourth century AD, and contains some 260 jokes. Considering humour from our own culture as recent as the 19th century is at times baffling to us today, the humour is surprisingly familiar.
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