A winter riddle is:
Q: What’s white and goes up?
A: A confused snowflake.
The joke has been cited in print since at least 1977.
11 January 1977, Los Angeles (CA) Times, You sec., pg. 2, col. 2:
The Beastly Riddle Calendar by Jane Sarnoff and Reynold Ruffins. Hundreds of riddles, five holiday postcards to mail to friends, e.g., “What’s white and goes up? A confused snowflake.”
25 October 1995, The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), “Mighty Funny’s Mini Jokes,” The Mini Page, pg. 4, col. 2:
Q: What’s white and goes up?
A: A confused snowflake.
The Telegraph (London, UK)
Top ten worst Christmas cracker jokes ever
By Natalie Paris 2:01PM GMT 19 Dec 2007
(...)
4. What’s white and goes up?
A confused snowflake.
Twitter
Rax Lakhani
@RaxLakhani
#crapcrackerjokes What’s white and goes up?
A confused snowflake.
8:11 AM - 24 Dec 2008
Google Books
Christmas Crackers
By Matt Wilce
Lulu Press (Lulu.com)
2012
Pg. ?:
What’s white and goes up?
A confused snowflake.
Google Books
Ho-Ho-Ho Christmas Jokes to Tickle Your Funny Bone
By Amelia LaRoche
Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
2013
Pg. 30:
What’s white and goes up?
A confused snowflake.
Google Books
Gigglers: Christmas Jokes
By Toby Reynolds
London, UK: Scholastic Fiction
2015
Pg. 68:
Q. What’s white and goes up?
A. A confused snowflake!
Twitter
🏇MARK
@westy2112
What’s white and goes up?
A confused snowflake.
#wednesdaywit
1:29 PM - 6 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:
•“Civil engineering implies the existence of criminal engineering” (4/23)
•“Dungeness crab implies the existence of Dragoness crab” (4/23)
•“If you don’t understand why the Electoral College exists… You’re the reason” (4/23)
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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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