That seems to be the recent interpretation (or at least I only recently read about it, it seems to be a thing right now), but I remain unconvinced.
It's just entirely plausible to me that the pun was just a "happy accident", and the originator of the joke really did mean to give a groan-inducing borderline-tautological answer that does not offer any insight besides the obvious. You were expecting a punchline, but your expectation was subverted!
And at least that's also funnier than that lame pun. I'd be pretty disappointed to be honest, but we'll probably never really find out.
Nope, that's a pun you've shared, but it's not the definitive answer in any way as you seem to think.
There is no single correct chicken crossing the road joke, but specifically the person you're talking to is speaking about an anti-joke where you don't even get to it crossing the road because you're stuck on the question of why cross the road rather than the act of crossing it.
If there's a pun it's one referencing the line from Othello about "this foul proceeding", but good luck coming up with one that would get a laugh outside very select circles.
It's just entirely plausible to me that the pun was just a "happy accident", and the originator of the joke really did mean to give a groan-inducing borderline-tautological answer that does not offer any insight besides the obvious. You were expecting a punchline, but your expectation was subverted!
And at least that's also funnier than that lame pun. I'd be pretty disappointed to be honest, but we'll probably never really find out.