# Chestnut

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chestnut/35132>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [September 30, 2000, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chestnut/35132 "2000-09-30T12:24:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chestnut/35132/1 "2000-09-30T12:24:38Z")

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Re: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mchestnut.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mchestnut.html)

I have also heard “chestnut” used to refer to:

1. an old adage or other cliched piece of received wisdom
2. an old song in a band’s repertoire (mainly in British rock magazines)

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**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chestnut/35132/2 "2000-09-30T16:09:00Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> “A chestnut. I have heard you tell the joke twenty-seven times, and I am sure it was a chestnut.”

Surely this is obviously a pun based on an already existing common usage of the word Chestnut to refer to an old joke. I mean, common, really, it makes no sense otherwise. This is a punchline from a long set up, not an example of nology.

Tris