“Why did the chicken cross the road?”/“To get to the other side” is a classic riddle from the 19th century. A skeleton version is:
Q: Why did the skeleton cross the road?
A: To get to the body shop.
The riddle has been cited in print since at least 1991 and has been printed on many images.
“Why didn’t the skeleton cross the road?”/“He didn’t have any guts” is a related riddle.
Newspapers.com
16 June 1991, Sioux City (IA) Sunday Journal, “Kids’ Spot,” comic sec., Pg. ?:
WHY DID THE SKELETON CROSS THE ROAD?
TO GET TO THE BODY SHOP
Google Books
Kids’ Funniest Jokes
Edited by Sheila Anne Barry
New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
1993
Pg. 80:
Why did the skeleton cross the road?
To get to the body shop. BRIAN NEDJELSKI, 10
Google Groups: alt.drunken.bastards
NORTH AMERICAN PENPALS
Jaz
Nov 19, 1996, 3:00:00 AM
(...)
Boom Boom Jaz - Why did the skeleton cross the road?
—
Boom Boom Jaz - To get to the body shop..
Google Books
Best Riddle Book Ever
By Charles Keller
New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
1997
Pg. 38:
Why did the skeleton cross the road?
To get to the body shop.
Google Groups: alt.magic
Chicken jokes needed
Mattias Andersson
Feb 8, 1997, 3:00:00 AM
(...)
Why did the skeleton cross the road?
To get to the body shop.
Google Books
July 1997, Boys’ Life, “Think & Grin,” pg. 70, col. 1:
Fritz: Why did the skeleton cross the road?
Chris: Why?
Fritz: Because there was a body shop on the other side.
— David Dodson, Pikeville, N.C.
Google Groups: alt.ozdebate.jokes
HALLOWEEN JOKES! #2
Danno
Oct 30, 1999, 3:00:00 AM
(...)
Q: Why did the skeleton cross the road??
A: To get to the body shop!
—From Martha
Twitter
kendra k
@kendrak
grape laffy taffy is gross.
why did the skeleton cross the road?
to get to the body shop.
11:37 AM · Dec 10, 2007·Twitter Web Client
Twitter
Tim Landes
@TimLandesJr
Why’d the skeleton cross the road? To get to the body shop. Oh, laffy taffy.
11:29 AM · Mar 26, 2009·Twitter SMS
Twitter
Jimmy RevJim Olsen
@mybuddyjimmy
Why did the skeleton cross the road? To get to the body shop. #LaughoftheDay
8:28 AM · Oct 19, 2021 from West Des Moines, IA·Twitter for iPhone
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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