Variations
There are many riddles that assume a familiarity with this well-known riddle and its answer. One class of variations enlists a creature other than the chicken to cross the road, in order to refer back to the original chicken joke. For example, a turkey or duck crosses "because it was the chicken's day off," and a dinosaur "because chickens didn't exist yet." Some variants are both puns and references to the original, such as "Why did the duck cross the road?" "To prove he's no chicken" or "Why did the gum cross the road?" "Because it's stuck under the chicken's foot." Other variations replace side with another word, like "Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide." A mathematical version asks, "Why did the chicken cross the Möbius strip?" "To get to the same side."
Another class of variations, designed for written rather than oral transmission, employs parody by pretending to have notable individuals or institutions give characteristic answers to the question posed by the riddle. As with the lightbulb joke, variants on this theme are virtually infinite.
Read more about this topic: Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?
Famous quotes containing the word variations:
“I may be able to spot arrowheads on the desert but a refrigerator is a jungle in which I am easily lost. My wife, however, will unerringly point out that the cheese or the leftover roast is hiding right in front of my eyes. Hundreds of such experiences convince me that men and women often inhabit quite different visual worlds. These are differences which cannot be attributed to variations in visual acuity. Man and women simply have learned to use their eyes in very different ways.”
—Edward T. Hall (b. 1914)