Riddle joke

A riddle joke, joke riddle, pseudo-joke or conundrum is a riddle that does not expect the asked person to know the answer, but rather constitutes a set-up to the humorous punch line of the joke.[1]

It is one of the four major types of riddles, according to Nigel F. Barley.[2] There are many cycles of jokes in the form of a conundrum, such as elephant jokes,[1] "Why did the chicken cross the road?" and lightbulb jokes.

Joke cycles implying inferiority or other stereotypes of certain categories of people, such as blonde jokes or ethnic jokes (such as Polack jokes), have a considerable number of joke riddles.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Mac E. Barrick, "Racial Riddles & the Pollack Joke", Keystone Folklore Quarterly, Volume 15, Issue 1, 1970, pp. 3–15
  2. ^ Nigel F. Barley (1974), "Structural Aspects of the Anglo-Saxon Riddle", Semiotica 10 (2)

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