A fishmonger riddle is:
Q: Why is a fishmonger never generous?
A: Because his business is sell-fish.
The “sell-fish”/“selfish” pun has been cited in print since at least 1879.
Google Books
Entertaining Anecdotes from Every Available Source
Edited by James Baird McClure
Chicago, IL: Rhodes & McClure
1879
Pg. 245:
Why is a fishmonger never generous? Because his business is sell-fish.
10 March 1890, St. Joseph’s Daily Herald (St. Joseph, MO), “Conundrum,” pg. 6, col. 5:
Why is a fishmonger never generous?
Chronicling America
25 March 1903, The Evening World (New York, NY), “The Old Jokes’ Home” by Roy L. McCardell, pg. 10, col. 3:
Why is a fishmonger never generous?
Because his business makes him sell fish.
Google Books
The Games Book for Boys and Girls:
A volume of old and new pastimes
By E Stuart Hardy and Edith Alice Andrews
London, UK: Ernest Nister; New York, NY: E.P. Dutton & Co.
1906
Pg. 123:
Why is a fishmonger never generous? — Because his business makes him sell fish (selfish).
Twitter
mmm… and glug…
@mmm_newcastle
The daily mmm… food joke - Why are fishmongers never generous? Because their work makes them sell-fish!
1:20 AM - 25 Aug 2010
Twitter
Lee Jackson
@VictorianLondon
“Why are fishmongers never generous? Because their business makes them sell-fish.”
9:18 AM - 30 Jan 2011
Google Books
My Book of Indoor Games
By Clarence Squareman
My Ebook Publishing House,
2016 (Originally published in 1916.—ed.)
Pg. ?:
Why is a fishmonger never generous? Because his business makes him sell fish (selfish).
Reddit—Jokes
Why are fishmongers never generous?
submitted August 24, 2017 by Kiyoko504
Because their business makes them sell-fish.
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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