A popular Halloween pumpkin riddle is:
Q: How do you mend a broken jack-o’lantern?
A: With a pumpkin patch!
The joke has been cited in print since at least 1994, when it was printed in many newspapers. This joke was cited in 1998:
Q: How did the ghost patch his sheet?
A: With a pumpkin patch.
This version was cited in a 2003 book:
Q: How do you fix a pumpkin?
A: With a pumpkin patch.
“How do you cure someone with a pumpkin spice addiction?"/"Apply the pumpkin patch” is a similar riddle.
7 July 1994, The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), “Mighty Funny’s Mini Jokes,” The Mini Page, pg. 2, col. 4:
(sent in by Michelle Tarrant)
Q: How do you mend a broken jack-o’lantern?
A: With a pumpkin patch!
Google Groups: alt.jokes.pentium
Need Children Jokes..Please
HLapla3527
10/8/98
(...)
Q. How did the ghost patch his sheet?
A. With a pumpkin patch.
5 November 1998, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “The Kids’ Reading Room: Pint-Sized Punch Lines,” pg. 11:
How do you fix a broken jack-o’-lantern? With a pumpkin patch. (Cyna Mason, 9, Placentia, Van Buren School)
Google Groups: alt.halloween.boo
Halloween Jokes
stirling
11/8/99
(...)
Q. How did the ghost patch his sheet?
A. With a pumpkin patch.
(...)
Q. How do you mend a broken Jack-o-lantern?
A. With a pumpkin patch!
Google Groups: alt.humor.puns
“Puns of the Weak” 10/20/00
Stan Kegel
10/21/00
(...)
How did the ghost repair his sheet? With a pumpkin patch. (By Clynch Varnadore)
Google Books
Kids’ Silliest Riddles
By Jacqueline Horsfall
Illustrated by Buck Jones
New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
2003
Pg. 81:
How do you fix a pumpkin?
With a pumpkin patch.
Fresh for Kids (May 24, 2007)
Q: How do you fix a cracked pumpkin?
A: With a pumpkin patch!
From Lauren Ferguson
Twitter
(jeff)isageek
@jeffisageek
Halloween joke : how do you fix a jack o lantern? Answer: with a pumpkin patch!
7:54 PM - 31 Oct 2007
Google Books
The Happy Classroom:
From Ha-Ha to A-Ha
By Janet Aaker Smith
Marion, IL: Pieces of Learning
2011
Pg. 94:
How do you fix a flat pumpkin?
With a pumpkin patch.
Twitter
anne franklin
@annefranklin
How do you fix a broken pumpkin?
With a pumpkin patch. Bahahaha. C:@FoodCents
12:30 PM - 11 Oct 2011
Healthy Times
Seasoning’s Greetings
DEC 27TH, 2011
(...)
From Greg:
How do you fix a cracked pumpkin? With a Pumpkin patch.
Google Books
Kids Jokes:
Jokes For Kids
By Jackson Jones
California Online Publishers
2014
Pg. ?:
Q: How do you fix a cracked pumpkin?
A: With a pumpkin patch!
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:
•
“Instead of conspiracy theorist, I prefer to be called a connect the dots specialist” (3/20)
•
“Let’s reduce drunk driving by taking cars away from sober drivers” (3/20)
•
“When the Berlin Wall fell, which side did the people run to?” (3/20)
•
“You are being conditioned to give up your rights every time there’s a crisis” (3/20)
•
Entry in progress—BP (3/20)
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.