Ever since I was a little girl, I have always wondered why the joke about a chicken crossing the road was supposed to be funny. It never made sense to me. Chickens? Crossing a road? What? I grew up in suburbia—-we didn’t have chickens within a ten mile radius of my house, and the time I’ve spent on a ranch can’t total more than a couple hours. So my chicken exposure is very limited, and I’ve never seen one crossing a road.
Until, that is, I moved to Uganda. On my walk to work this morning it dawned on me that chickens do cross roads all the time here, in their constant pecking for food. Chickens literally roam free, wherever they desire. Goats too, but that’s another matter (and traffic hazard). So in a chicken-friendly world like Kampala, they constantly have to cross roads in order to maintain nourishment.
Me: “Why’d the chicken cross the road?”
Kampalan: “Duh, to get to the other side!”
It's so simple. Now, whenever I see a chicken cross the road, I have to laugh. It’s actually pretty funny.
No comments:
Post a Comment