An elephant riddle is:
Q: What did the hotel manager say to the elephant who couldn’t pay his bill?
A: “Pack your trunk and clear out!”
The pun is that “trunk” has two different meanings. The elephant joke has been cited in print since at least 1978.
Google Books
The Crack-a-Joke Book
Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books
1978
Pg. 12:
What did the hotel manager say to the elephant who couldn’t pay his bill ? Pack your trunk and clear out.
Google Groups: fido7.humor.filtered
4HF
Tony Leontyev
1/15/01
(...)
2. “What did the hotel manager say to the elephant who couldn’t pay his bill?” “Pack your trunk and clear out!”
Google Books
ROFL:
Rolling On the Floor Laughing Joke Book
New York, NY: Tangerine Press
2005
Pg. 122:
What did the hotel manager say to the elephant that couldn’t pay his bill?
“Pack your trunk and clear out.”
Twitter
Morten Stenbaek
@mobitwix
What did the hotel manager say to the elephant that couldn´t pay his bill ? “Pack your trunk and clear out !”
11:45 AM - 25 Dec 2009
YouTube
Ok, here is the joke. What did the hotel manager say to the el…
botcaster inc. bot
Published on Jan 22, 2016
What did the hotel manager say to the elephant that couldn’t pay his bill ? “Pack your trunk and clear out !”
Twitter
lorraine Jo King
@LahLahBean
#tuesdaytitters What did the hotel manager say to the elephant that couldn’t pay his bill? “Pack your trunk and clear out !” 😊
4:44 AM - 6 Mar 2018
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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