People set their clocks and watches to other ones, leading to a joke:
“How did the person who invented the first clock know what time it was?”
“How did the person who invented the first clock know what time to set it to?” was cited on Twitter on January 3, 2011, and the joke went viral in 2015. The website I Can Has Cheezburger? illustrated the saying.
Twitter
prune juice
@KariukiMachine
#randomthoughts how did the person who invented the first clock know what time to set it to? Can we also say he invented time?
11:59 PM - 3 Jan 2011
Twitter
CairaNaomiMurray
@CairaMurray
How did the man who invented the first clock know what time it is. MIND=BLOWN.
6:24 PM - 9 Apr 2012
Twitter
Alex
@WeSeizeTheDay
how did the guy who invented the first clock know what time it was?
5:45 AM - 3 Jan 2013
Twitter
DaBear
@astutenewf
13: How did the person who invented the first clock know what time it was?
Me: *head blows up*
4:55 AM - 29 Sep 2014
reddit
How did the person who invented the first clock know what time it was? (self.Showerthoughts)
November 12, 2014 by lilitaly92
AskReddit
How did the person who invented the first clock know what time it was? (self.AskReddit)
March 15, 2015 by dobond
EyeVey thoughts
March 21, 2015 by EyeVey
How did the person who invented the first clock know what time it was?
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.
Recent entries:
•
“Online flirting is all fun and games until someone buys a plane ticket” (5/27)
•
“Only in America can you get arrested for feeding the homeless & be sentenced to community service” (5/27)
•
“In Texas, the shortest distance between two points is likely under construction” (5/27)
•
“New York is the only town where the shortest distance between two points is under construction” (5/27)
•
Entry in progress—BP (5/26)
More new entries...
Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps.
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.
This site is edited by Barry Popik.