“Why did the chicken cross the road?"/"To get to the other side” is a classic riddle from the 19th century. A spy version is:
Q: Why did the spy cross the road?
A: Because he was never really on your side.
The joke was posted on Twitter on August 17, 2009, has been printed on several images. The joke has been associated with online forums for the video game Team Fortress 2 (TF2).
Twitter
Emily
@myrmeleontid
Why did the Spy cross the road? Because he was never really on your side.
4:26 PM - 17 Aug 2009
GameFAQs—Team Fortress 2
Why did the spy cross the road?
smackdownv
September 7, 2009
He never really was on your side.
Twitter
Ethan Chandler
@AgapeShacor
Why did the Spy cross the road? - He didn’t, he never really was on your side. http://tumblr.com/xpr4qq0cx
6:46 PM - 16 Dec 2009
The Excapist
TF2 Jokes
OptimusPrime33
POSTED: 25 April 2010 12:11 pm
Here’s one
Why did the spy cross the road?
-----------------
He didn’t, he ‘never really was on your side’
Facebook
Quinn Clarke-Ryk to Shibby2142
March 3, 2013 ·
Why did the spy cross the road?
Because he was never really on your side
Reddit—TF2
Why did the Spy cross the road?Comedy (self.tf2)
submitted May 25, 2014 by MBArceus
Because he never really was on your side.
Reddit—Jokes
Why did the spy cross the road?
submitted November 23, 2014 by 7-sidedDice
Because he never really was on your side.
Google Books
The S Files:
From the Files of the Russian Spy Agency, the American Spy Agency, and Several Other Spy Agencies
By Rebecca Linam
Bloomington, IN: iUniverse
2015
Pg. ?:
“Sally Sue, why did the spy cross the road?” Sally Sue looked at him with narrowed eyes. “To get to the other side.” “No,” John said bluntly. “He didn’t cross the road because he was never on your side to begin with.”
Reddit—Jokes
Why did the spy cross the road?
submitted October 14, 2017 by Cyber-Gon
He was never on your side
COMMENTS
Vitrivo
TF2 much? He was never really on your side.
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.
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.
This site is edited by Barry Popik.