“If a clock has already eaten but is still hungry, does it go back four seconds?”—a pun on “go back for seconds”—is a joke that appears to have been cited in print since at least 2000. It’s not known who first told the riddle.
Google Books
My Little Bit of Nonsense
By Charlie Walker
Wakefield: C. Walker
2000
Pg. 22:
When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
17 April 2002, Plainview (TX) Daily Herald, “Dijon vu: The same mustard as before”:
When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.
Google Books
The Land Where My American Mother Died-Palermo, Sicily:
A Novel
By Bennett Fairorth
Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc.
2003
Pg. ?:
“When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.”
11 March 2003, Estherville (IA) Daily News, pg. 5, col. 1:
Yesterday’s Cryptoquip: IF A CLOCK HAS ALREADY EATEN BUT IS STILL HUNGRY, DOES IT GO BACK FOUR SECONDS?
Google Books
The Laugh-a-Day Book of Bloopers, Quotes & Good Clean Jokes
By Jim Kraus
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books
2012
Pg. ?:
DAY 247
When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.
Twitter
Princess
@MyNames_Nichole
What does a clock do when it’s hungry?
It goes back four seconds .
HHAHAHAHA 😂😂😂👏
9:48 PM - 3 Dec 13
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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