A corn riddle is:
Q: Why shouldn’t you tell a secret in a cornfield?
A: Because the corn has ears.
The corn pun is an old classic. “Tell not your secrets in a corn-field; it has thousands of ears” was printed in the New York (NY) Ledger on October 24, 1863.
24 October 1863, New York (NY) Ledger, “Wit and Wisdom,” pg. 3, col. 5:
TELL not your secrets in a corn-field; it has thousands of ears.
28 January 1864, The Perry County Democrat (New Bloomfield, PA), pg. 2, col. 6:
Tell not your secrets in a corn-field; it has thousands of ears.
30 July 1868, The Youths’ Companion (Boston, MA), pg. 124, col. 3:
AN AGRICULTURAL CONUNDRUM. Why should a man never tell his secrets in a corn-field? Because it has so many ears.
4 September 1869, The Saturday Evening Post (Phlaldelphia, PA), pg. 6, col. 3:
Never tell your secrets in a cornfield, for it has a thousand ears.
Google Books
15 July 1870, To the Stranger in the Tyrol, pg. 11:
Never tell your secrets in a cornfield, for it has a thousand ears.
Google Books
Encyclopedia of Wit and Wisdom:
A Collection of Over Nine Thousand Anecdotes
BY Henry Hupfeld
Philadelphia, PA: David McKay, Publisher
1897 (Originally published 1877)
Pg. 232:
WHY should a man never tell his secrets in a corn-field ? Because it has so many ears.
Google Books
American Proverbs:
A Study of Texts and Contexts
By Wolfgang Mieder
Berlin, Germany: P. Lang
1989
Pg. 94:
Never tell a secret in the cornfield ‘cause the corns got ears.
Google Books
Happy Smile:
Jokes for Kids
By Adam Smith
Lulu Press (Lulu.com)
2017
Pg. ?:
Q: Why should you never tell a secret in a corn field?
A: Because there are too many ears.
Twitter
On Reflection‏
@onreflectweets
Where should you never tell a secret?
Near a cornfield. There are ears everywhere.
@edfringe #BadJokeFriday #NationalPopcornDay
9:02 AM - 19 Jan 2018
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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