# Explain this joke please **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 20, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745 "2013-08-20T21:18:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/21 "2013-08-22T13:45:54Z")
“What happened to your girlfriend, that really cute maintenance woman?” “She no longer is my girlfriend. I caught her cheating on me.” “I don’t believe that she cheated on you!” “Well, a couple of nights ago I called her on the phone, and she told me it was Sexauer.” ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/22 "2013-08-22T14:22:18Z")
“What happened to your girlfriend, that really cute farm girl?” “She no longer is my girlfriend. I caught her cheating on me.” “I don’t believe that she cheated on you!” "Well, a couple of nights ago I called her on the phone, and she told me that she was choking a chicken. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/23 "2013-08-22T16:21:19Z")
I had a couple in mind, that I haven’t quite worked out yet. One involves laying pipe, and the other one is about a pile driver. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/24 "2013-08-22T17:29:44Z")
“What happened to your girlfriend, that really cute pawn shop girl?” “She no longer is my girlfriend. I caught her cheating on me.” “I don’t believe that she cheated on you!” “Well, a couple of nights ago I called her on the phone, and she told me that she was selling a rusty trombone.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/25 "2013-08-22T17:53:28Z")
Am I the only one who thinks the original joke made a lot more sense and was funnier than most of the attempts to “fix” it? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/26 "2013-08-22T18:06:42Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Am I the only person who thinks it’s the \*other \*side of the joke–the non-mathematical meaning–that makes no sense? Why would they be referring to sex partners as “unknowns”? They wouldn’t. That’s how the joke “works”. The mathematician girl says “three unknowns” assuming that the mathematical meaning would be clear, because in her mind it’s obviously a maths thing. The boyfriend, who doesn’t know anything about maths, hears that and assumes she meant random people she’d pick up in a bar or something. Hilarity ensues. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/27 "2013-08-22T18:21:19Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > The boyfriend, who doesn’t know anything about maths, hears that and assumes she meant random people she’d pick up in a bar or something. Those would be _strangers_, not _unknowns_. The only context I can think of in which you would refer to a human being as an “unknown” is if they are would-be entertainers who aren’t famous. (Or if you want to know how does it \*feeeeel \*to be on your own with no direction home.) That’s why the joke \*doesn’t \*work, because there’s no sensible rationale for the boyfriend to mistake the word “unknown” for a reference to sex partners. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/28 "2013-08-22T18:21:56Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Do people really go to bed to solve equations? Did you ever have a difficult problem or conundrum (not necessarily a math problem, any kind of problem) that you spent a long time pondering but couldn’t come up with a solution, and it got stuck in your head, and even after you went to bed, your brain kept working it over? And it kinda made you crazy that you couldn’t stop thinking about it, and couldn’t solve it? That kind of solving math problems in bed. > [@Enright3](#): > > So there’s nothing special about “3 unknowns?” There’s not some math equation that’s well known with 3 unknowns? There’s not a single, well-known example. Rather, in math, solving a problem with three unknowns is not straightforward like solving for two unknowns. Thus, it invovles mental wrestling. > [@](#): > > The joke would have worked the same with 2 unknowns? I even went so far as to think; “you could specify unknown as x; so is it supposed to be funny because she’s wrestling with 3 x’s?” Mathematically, working with “3 variables” would be equivalent, but the double entendre comes from “unknowns” meaning “variables” and also meaning “strangers”. Yeah, it’s weak. Nobody really talks about other people as “unknowns”. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/29 "2013-08-22T19:07:41Z")
“What happened to your girlfriend, that really cute prostitute?” “She is no longer my girlfriend. I caught her cheating on me.” Badump tish. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/30 "2013-08-22T20:13:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Am I the only one who thinks the original joke made a lot more sense and was funnier than most of the attempts to “fix” it? Well you know where I stand on this. 🙂 I just didn’t think the original was funny at all. Besides this is kind of fun. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/31 "2013-08-22T20:29:15Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > “Well, a couple of nights ago I called her on the phone, and she told me that she was selling a rusty trombone.” Trombones rust? ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/32 "2013-08-22T20:30:49Z")
What happened to your girlfriend, that really cute hooker?" “She no longer is my girlfriend. She’s too kinky for me.” “I don’t believe that she’s to kinky for you!” “Well, a couple of nights ago I called her on the phone, and she told me that she was screwing in a a light bulb.” Meh. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/33 "2013-08-22T21:43:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Am I the only one who thinks the original joke made a lot more sense and was funnier than most of the attempts to “fix” it? I thought it was funny. The girl was a math student and when she said she was “in bed wrestling with 3 unknowns” I could picture her up late sitting in bed stuck on a difficult math problem with books, papers, etc. spread across the bed. On the other end of the line is the boyfriend shocked finding out she is fooling around (wrestling) with 3 unknowns. Unknowns being random guys she met somewhere and didn’t even bother getting their names:eek:, and there’s 3 of them:eek:. What a slut. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/34 "2013-08-23T02:03:14Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Do people really go to bed to solve equations? The girlfriend is a student. Students drag their books into bed to study because sitting at their desk in their dorm room is uncomfortable. Were you never a student? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/35 "2013-08-23T05:59:36Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > The girlfriend is a student. Students drag their books into bed to study because sitting at their desk in their dorm room is uncomfortable. Were you never a student? For most of my life. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/36 "2013-08-23T14:36:05Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Trombones rust? Check out ‘rusty trombone’ on urban dictionary. As with many jokes, the situation may not be literally possible. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/37 "2013-08-24T15:00:20Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > Check out ‘rusty trombone’ on urban dictionary. As with many jokes, the situation may not be literally possible. Well! I, for one, am shocked and appalled. Those '50s kids! The malt shop, indeed! ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/38 "2013-08-24T17:27:48Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Three unknowns can be very difficult to solve for, in physics a 3-body problem is often one that must be reduced or simplified in some way before it can be “solved.” So, it’s kind of funny. > > But yeah, if you were wrestling with 3 unknowns, it means you’re trying to work with 3 different variables to set up some equations or predict behavior in a system, etc. > > Of course, she also could have meant wrestling with 3 unknown people 😃 . . . assume a perfectly spherical libertine . . . ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/39 "2013-08-24T18:06:33Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > “What happened to your girlfriend, that really cute maintenance woman?” > “She no longer is my girlfriend. I caught her cheating on me.” > “I don’t believe that she cheated on you!” > “Well, a couple of nights ago I called her on the phone, and she told me it was Sexauer.” Sexauer? We don’t even get a coffee break! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/40 "2013-08-24T19:55:48Z")
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