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by j2kun 386 days ago
The classic, "why did the chicken cross the road" also fits into this genre, but nobody seems to understand that "get to the other side" means "to cross over from life to death." Every time I explain this to someone they are shocked that they never knew this meaning.
5 comments
wavemode 385 days ago
My understanding is that that interpretation is an urban legend.

Wikipedia attributes the joke to an 1847 article, which is phrased in a way that clearly isn't intended to have some deeper meaning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_did_the_chicken_cross_the_...

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j2kun 385 days ago
TIL, thanks!
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albedoa 384 days ago
You should keep smugly explaining it to people as if you didn't know about or otherwise have access to google before May 27, 2025.
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gwd 385 days ago
That's a failure of the joke not to set it up -- one of the "top corners" of the square is missing. Chickens normally don't make an effort to get to the "other side" (as far as we're aware anyway).

To make the square you'd have to do something where the context of "the other side" means past life into death. e.g., "Why did the spiritualist put his ear towards the road? To hear from the other side."

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jagged-chisel 385 days ago
If you cross the wrong person, they just might send you to the other side.

I don’t know how to make the chicken crossing the road use this meaning, but … well, there it is.

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albedoa 385 days ago
> Every time I explain this to someone they are shocked that they never knew this meaning.

You might have taken this as a hint?

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Upvoter33 385 days ago
That is funny. We finally figured out this double meaning a few years ago and I have been on the same quest since.
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dyauspitr 385 days ago
Seems arbitrary. Why does “get to the other side” mean to cross over from life to death. You’re saying it like it’s obvious.
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j2kun 385 days ago
It is easy to find references [1]. I always thought it referred to the Greek mythological river Styx, where crossing the river meant going to the underworld.

[1]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/other_side

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dyauspitr 385 days ago
Sure, but it could also be humorous due to how obvious/deadpan the response “to get to the other side” is.
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