The American flag is red, white and blue. Candy canes are usually white, with red stripes. A riddle was printed in Boys’ Life magazine in March 1980:
Teacher: What’s red, white, and blue?
Jasper: A sad candy cane.
A usual form of the riddle was posted on the newsgroup rec.crafts.textiles.quilting on December 11, 2011:
Q: What’s red, white and blue at Christmas time?
A: A sad candy cane!
Wikipedia: Candy cane
A candy cane is a cane-shaped stick candy often associated with Christmastide, as well as Saint Nicholas Day. It is traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint, but may also be a variety of other flavors and colors.
Google Books
March 1980, Boys’ Life, “Think & Grin,” pg. 81, col. 2:
Teacher: What’s red, white, and blue?
Jasper: A sad candy cane. — Carl Risch, Bloomsburg, Pa.
23 December 1989, Pensacola (FL) News Journal, “Just for Laughs,” Pennywhistle Press, pg. 3, col. 3:
Question: What is red, white and blue?
Answer: A sad candy cane.
Josh Brewer
Sandusky, Maine
Google Books
Awesome Jokes
By Charles Keller
New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
1997
Pg. 90:
What’s red, white and blue?
A sad candy cane.
23 December 1999, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “The Kids’ Reading Room: Jokes & Riddles,” pg. E8, col. 1:
What’s read, white and blue? A sad candy cane.(Ryan, 7, Inglewood)
23 December 2004, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “The Kids’ Reading Room: Jokes & Riddles,” pg. H3:
What’s red, white and blue? A sad candy cane.
Sara, sixth grade
Porter Middle School
Granada Hills
Google Groups: rec.crafts.textiles.quilting
Too cornball not to share….
Jo Gibson
12/11/11
(...)
What’s red, white and blue at Christmas time?
A sad candy cane!
Twitter
UoN Libraries
@UoNLibraries
What’s red, white and blue at Christmas time?
A sad candy cane!
#uonlibrariesfestivejokes
9:31 PM - 15 Dec 2015
Twitter
Nancy Herberholz
@nanron5350
Q: What’s red, white and blue at Christmas time?
A: A sad candy cane!
2:18 AM - 24 Dec 2015
Twitter
Michael J Smith
@oldmikey50
What’s red white and blue @Christmas? A sad #candycane.
12:25 PM - 3 Dec 2016
Google Books
Katie Woo’s Hilarious Holiday Jokes
By Fran Manushkin
North Mankato, MN: Picture Window Books, an imprint of Capstone Press
2017
Pg. 14:
What’s red, white, and blue?
A sad candy cane.
Twitter
TroiFromTroy
@CMeTNow
What’s red, white and blue at Christmas time?
A sad candy cane!
7:50 AM - 9 Dec 2017
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:
•“Welcome to growing older. Where all the foods and drinks you’ve loved for years suddenly seem determined to destroy you” (4/17)
•“Date someone who drinks with you instead of complaining that you drink” (4/17)
•“Definition of stupid: Knowing the truth, seeing evidence of the truth, but still believing the lie” (4/17)
•“Definition of stupid: Knowing the truth, seeing the evidence of the truth, but still believing the lie” (4/17)
•“Government creates the crises so it can ‘rescue’ you with the loss of freedom” (4/17)
More new entries...
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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