AI.THROOP@R20.UTEXAS.EDU (David Throop) (10/16/87)
#G-120-97A I was hanging out at the Logicians Union Hall the other day and the place was full of logicians, poring over logician's manuals and exchanging gossip. Well, every so often, one of them would call out a number, and all of the others would laugh real hard. Then they'd all go back to whatever they were doing. This seemed real odd behavior for such logical people. So I asked Robert, who's a logician friend of mine there, what was going on. "Hey, this is a hall for logicians," he said. "A while back, we collected all of the jokes that we could prove were funny and put them in a catalog. Everybody here's read it. Now when somebody wants to tell a joke, they just call out its serial number." And he showed me the logical joke catalog. I thumbed through it for a while. Found a joke I liked. And at an opportune time, I called it out: "G-120-97B!" Nobody laughed. I turned to Robert and said "So how come they didn't laugh?" He shrugged. "You didn't tell it right." ============================================================================= G-120-97C I was hanging out at the Logicians Union Hall the other day and the place was full of logicians, poring over logician's manuals and exchanging gossip. Well, every so often, one of them would call out a number, and all of the others would laugh real hard. Then they'd all go back to whatever they were doing. This seemed real odd behavior for such logical people. So I asked Robert, who's a logician friend of mine there, what was going on. "Hey, this is a hall for logicians," he said. "A while back, we collected all of the jokes that we could prove were funny and put them in a catalog. Everybody here's read it. Now when somebody wants to tell a joke, they just call out its serial number." And he showed me the logical joke catalog. I thumbed through it for a while. Found a joke I liked. Actually, THIS was the joke. This joke I'm telling you right now, it's numbered G-120-97C. And here's where it gets hard. Because if the joke is funny, then the logicians laugh, and that spoils the punchline. And the joke isn't funny any more. But if the logicians will laugh at any funny joke. So if they don't laugh, it's because the joke isn't funny. But then the punchline works and its funny again. So I can't tell you whether or not the logicians laughed. Either way, it spoils the punchline. -------
gray@ghiggins.lb.hp.co.UK (Graham Higgins) (10/19/87)
That's a shame. Why does there have to be a concrete catalogue? It prohibits a variation which is arguably funnier ... can I change it around bit ?? .... I was hanging out at the Logicians Union Hall the other day and the place was full of logicians, poring over logician's manuals and exchanging gossip. Well, every so often, one of them would call out a number, and all of the others would laugh real hard. Then they'd all go back to whatever they were doing. This seemed real odd behavior for such logical people. So I asked Robert, who's a logician friend of mine there, what was going on. "Hey, this is a hall for logicians," he said. "A while back, we collected all of the jokes that we could prove were funny and allocated each one a number. Everybody here knows them. Now when somebody wants to tell a joke, they just call out its number." I thought about this for a while. Then I asked Robert if I could tell a joke, you know, try out the system. He said it would be OK by him, so I called out a number: "1209!" Nobody laughed. I turned to Robert and said "So how come they didn't laugh?" He shrugged. "You didn't tell it right." I asked for another try. Once more, Robert said it would be OK by him. I called out a different number: "83417!". Everybody collapsed in fits of mirth. I turned to Robert, feeling pleased. "Told _that_ one OK, didn't I?", I said. Robert was nearly helpless with laughter. He gasped, in between guffaws, "Haven't heard that one before".