An elephant joke is a joke, almost always an absurd riddle or conundrum and often a sequence of such, that involves an elephant. Elephant jokes were a fad in the 1960s, with many people constructing large numbers of them according to a set formula. Sometimes they involve parodies or puns.
Four examples of elephant jokes are:
- Q: Why did the elephant paint its fingernails red?
- A: So it could hide in the strawberry patch.
- Q: How can you tell that an elephant is in the bathtub with you?
- A: By the smell of peanuts on its breath.
- Q: How can you tell that an elephant has been in your refrigerator/ice box?
- A: By the footprints in the butter/cheesecake/cream cheese.
- and
- Q: What time is it when an elephant sits on your fence?
- A: Time to build a new fence.
Read more about Elephant Joke: History, Structure, Symbolism
Famous quotes containing the words elephant and/or joke:
“The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy; his legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“A man assumes that a woman’s refusal is just part of a game. Or, at any rate, a lot of men assume that. When a man says no, it’s no. When a woman says no, it’s yes, or at least maybe. There is even a joke to that effect. And little by little, women begin to believe in this view of themselves.”
—Erica Jong (b. 1942)