This is topic Why did the chicken cross the road? in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Sa'eed (Member # 12368) on :
 
The truth, at last.

warning: f-word carelessly used therein
 
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
 
Ummm, huh?

You might want to include an offensive language alert.
 
Posted by Sa'eed (Member # 12368) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by advice for robots:
Ummm, huh?

quote:
They don't mean the other side of the road. They mean death--the after life. What the *&%$!

 
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
 
That's what I don't get.
 
Posted by Sa'eed (Member # 12368) on :
 
The chicken is suicidal.
 
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
 
Or she thought hen heaven was just a better deal than Ol' McDonald's factory farm.
 
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
 
See, in the joke, the chicken isn't a chicken, and the road isn't a road, well it is a road, but it's not a physical road, it's a metaphorical road, and he's not crossing, he's walking down it. Why is he doing this? Why do we do anything? It's all part of the journey to the "other side". With each step on his path, the chicken is getting closer to his end, so why doesn't he stop walking? Or go back? Because then he's not making any new experiences, he's prolonging the journey, but he's not gaining anything from it. The joke teaches us not to dwell on the finite nature of life, but to enjoy it while it lasts.

Wait, no, that's retarded. The joke is a play on the expectation for a humorous punchline.
 
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
 
That link is incredibly stupid. I agree with jebus202; the joke is a play on the expectation for a humorous punchline. Anyone reading more into it needs to get a life.
 
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Lisa:
That link is incredibly stupid.

I could have told you that just by seeing the word "4chan" in the URL... [Razz]
 
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
 
I always read it how it's presented in the link. I don't get why it's a big deal.
 
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
 
I actually thought it was pretty funny. It doesn't matter what the original intent of the joke was. The fact that you can invert it and have it make perfect sense tickles me. The road is still a regular road. She just walked across it into an oncoming car.
 
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
 
Q: Why did the monkey fall out of the tree?
A: It was dead.

Q: Why did the chicken fall out of the tree?
A: It was stapled to the monkey.

Q: Why did the squirrel fall out of the tree?
A: Peer pressure.
 
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
 
I still find it kind of meaningless. Not just the "joke" itself, but the whole posting of it.

Lisa's jokes are lining up differently for me. I chuckled, despite the anti-funny punchlines.
 
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Raymond Arnold:
I actually thought it was pretty funny. It doesn't matter what the original intent of the joke was. The fact that you can invert it and have it make perfect sense tickles me. The road is still a regular road. She just walked across it into an oncoming car.

lol, the joke sounds like it's saying something it's not.
 
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
 
Well, yeah. That's why it was funny.
 
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
 
>I still find it kind of meaningless.

Yeah, the other side is pretty meaningless.
 
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by advice for robots:
I still find it kind of meaningless. Not just the "joke" itself, but the whole posting of it.

Lisa's jokes are lining up differently for me. I chuckled, despite the anti-funny punchlines.

I think that's only because they're new to you. Trust me, if you hear them as often as the chicken crossing the road, they become just as meaningless. The chicken crossing the road is just the archetype of the "too obvious punchline", and we've all gotten over it being funny long ago, when we were kids.
 
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Raymond Arnold:
I actually thought it was pretty funny. It doesn't matter what the original intent of the joke was. The fact that you can invert it and have it make perfect sense tickles me. The road is still a regular road. She just walked across it into an oncoming car.

Exactly! It astonishes me that that joke managed to still surprise me yet again after all these years.
 
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Raymond Arnold:
I actually thought it was pretty funny. It doesn't matter what the original intent of the joke was. The fact that you can invert it and have it make perfect sense tickles me.

Not to mention the metacontext of channers purposefully inflating it into a sarcastic ~MIND BLOWN~ moment, but that's two levels deeper into internet humor than I expect to be succinctly explainable.
 
Posted by rollainm (Member # 8318) on :
 
I agree with Raymond.

quote:
Originally posted by jebus202:
See, in the joke, the chicken isn't a chicken, and the road isn't a road, well it is a road, but it's not a physical road, it's a metaphorical road, and he's not crossing, he's walking down it. Why is he doing this? Why do we do anything? It's all part of the journey to the "other side". With each step on his path, the chicken is getting closer to his end, so why doesn't he stop walking? Or go back? Because then he's not making any new experiences, he's prolonging the journey, but he's not gaining anything from it. The joke teaches us not to dwell on the finite nature of life, but to enjoy it while it lasts.

Wait, no, that's retarded. The joke is a play on the expectation for a humorous punchline.

That's pretty funny, too, though.
 
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
 
I think the "Why did the chicken" joke is such a metajoke to begin with that any analysis/criticism of it (and meta analysis of the meta analysis) is inherently at least as funny as the joke is to begin with.
 
Posted by Stone_Wolf_ (Member # 8299) on :
 
Why did the chicken cross the playground?

To get to the other slide.
 
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
 
Heh.
 
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Lisa:
quote:
Originally posted by advice for robots:
I still find it kind of meaningless. Not just the "joke" itself, but the whole posting of it.

Lisa's jokes are lining up differently for me. I chuckled, despite the anti-funny punchlines.

I think that's only because they're new to you. Trust me, if you hear them as often as the chicken crossing the road, they become just as meaningless. The chicken crossing the road is just the archetype of the "too obvious punchline", and we've all gotten over it being funny long ago, when we were kids.
Yeah, I've been living under a rock for the past 37 years and have never heard jokes like that. Just the other day I heard this great new one about an elephant in the peanut butter.

I clicked the link Sa-eed posted and was unimpressed with what I found. It didn't resonate with me. I didn't find that version of the chicken joke especially clever, nor the discussion surrounding it.
 
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
 
quote:
I clicked the link Sa-eed posted and was unimpressed with what I found. It didn't resonate with me. I didn't find that version of the chicken joke especially clever, nor the discussion surrounding it.
Did you find it less clever than the joke itself? I don't think that the joke was ever all that funny. But to whatever extent that the chicken joke was funny or clever, it seems to me that metadiscussion of the chicken joke should be approximately as funny or clever.
 
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
 
Not by those two.
 
Posted by Dobbie (Member # 3881) on :
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KKYKE1isCQ#t=01m40s
 
Posted by Sa'eed (Member # 12368) on :
 
dear advice for robots,

I acknowledge that you don't like this thread.

Sincerely,

Saeed

ps: perhaps you should post in the threads you do like rather than continue being so sour about this one?
 
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by advice for robots:
Not by those two.

I'm genuinely curious: how much of your opinion is swayed by the cursing?
 
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Sa'eed:
dear advice for robots,

I acknowledge that you don't like this thread.

Sincerely,

Saeed

ps: perhaps you should post in the threads you do like rather than continue being so sour about this one?

Dear Sa'eed,

Welcome to Hatrack.

Sincerely,

advice for robots

You start a thread, people post in it. Sorry if I sounded sour. Surely I'm not the snarkiest poster who's ever responded to one of your threads. I genuinely didn't see the point of the joke you linked to. From the looks of it, the funny has gone right over my head.
 
Posted by Jeorge (Member # 11524) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Sa'eed:

ps: perhaps you should post in the threads you do like rather than continue being so sour about this one?

Well, he is being engaged in conversation, so it doesn't seem like it would be fair to ask him to leave... [Wink]
 
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Raymond Arnold:
quote:
Originally posted by advice for robots:
Not by those two.

I'm genuinely curious: how much of your opinion is swayed by the cursing?
*shrug* The way the cursing is used brings to mind 15-year-old boys. I'm not sure I'm ready for a discussion on the philosophical nuances of the chicken crossing the road joke conducted by 15-year-old boys. Is all.

But yeah, my initial reaction to the link was "That's some gratuitous usage of the f-word. He should probably post a warning."
 
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by advice for robots:
quote:
Originally posted by Sa'eed:
dear advice for robots,

I acknowledge that you don't like this thread.

Sincerely,

Saeed

ps: perhaps you should post in the threads you do like rather than continue being so sour about this one?

Dear Sa'eed,

Welcome to Hatrack.

Sincerely,

advice for robots

You start a thread, people post in it. Sorry if I sounded sour. Surely I'm not the snarkiest poster who's ever responded to one of your threads. I genuinely didn't see the point of the joke you linked to. From the looks of it, the funny has gone right over my head.

Sa'eed doesn't think like other people. He honestly found it fascinating.
 
Posted by Sa'eed (Member # 12368) on :
 
I did.

*shrugs*
 


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