science

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Why did the chicken cross the road? is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Why did the chicken cross the road? rather than just read about it. In short: "Why did the chicken cross the road?" is a common riddle joke with the answer being "To get to the other side." It is an example of anti-humor, in that the curious setup of the joke leads the listener to expect a traditional punchline, but they are instead given a simple statement of fact. The joke has become iconic as an exemplary generic joke to which most people know the answer, and has been repeated and changed…

Key takeaways

Why did the chicken cross the road? belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Why did the chicken cross the road? to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Why did the chicken cross the road? from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

"Why did the chicken cross the road?" is a common riddle joke with the answer being "To get to the other side." It is an example of anti-humor, in that the curious setup of the joke leads the listener to expect a traditional punchline, but they are instead given a simple statement of fact. The joke has become iconic as an exemplary generic joke to which most people know the answer, and has been repeated and changed numerous times over the course of history.

History The riddle appeared in an 1847 edition of The Knickerbocker, a New York City monthly magazine:

There are 'quips and quillets' which seem actual conundrums, but yet are none. Of such is this: 'Why does a chicken cross the street?' Are you 'out of town?' Do you 'give it up?' Well, then: 'Because it wants to get on the other side!'

According to music critic Gary Giddins in the Ken Burns documentary Jazz, the joke was spread through the United States by minstrel shows beginning in the 1840s as one of the first national jokes. In the 1890s, a pun variant version appeared in the magazine Potter's American Monthly:

Why should not a chicken cross the road? It would be a fowl proceeding.

Variations There are many riddles that assume a familiarity with this well-known riddle and its answer. For example, an alternate punchline can be used for the riddle, such as "it was too far to walk around". One class of variations enlists a creature other than the chicken to cross the road, in order to refer back to the original riddle. For example, a duck (or turkey) crosses "because it was the chicken's day off", and a dinosaur crosses "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". Other variations replace side with another word often to form a pun. Some examples are:

"Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the idiot's house. ... Knock-knock." ("Who's there?") "The chicken." "Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide." "Why did the chewing gum cross the road? It was stuck to the chicken's foot." "Why did the whale cross the ocean? To get to the other tide." "Why did Darth Vader cross the road? To get to the Dark Side." "Why did the chicken cross the Möbius strip? To get to the same side."

In the film Toy Story 2, while the search party of Andy's toys is looking for the toy store Al's Toy Barn—which has a chicken statue in its façade—Hamm announces he has spotted it on the other side of the street by asking the riddle "Why did the toys cross the road?", to which he answers "To get to the chicken on the other side!" As with the lightbulb joke, variants on these themes are widespread.

References

Further reading Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Vsauce (16 September 2012). "Why did the chicken cross the road?". youtube.com.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Why did the chicken cross the road?

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Why did the chicken cross the road? claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Why did the chicken cross the road? before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Why did the chicken cross the road? ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Why did the chicken cross the road?

In research: Why did the chicken cross the road? appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Why did the chicken cross the road? in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Why did the chicken cross the road? is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1840s in New York City, 1840s neologisms, 1840s quotations, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Why did the chicken cross the road? outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Why did the chicken cross the road? in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Why did the chicken cross the road? means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Why did the chicken cross the road? out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Why did the chicken cross the road? in simple terms?

Why does Why did the chicken cross the road? matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Why did the chicken cross the road??

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Why did the chicken cross the road?.