# 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:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/41 "2013-08-25T05:23:29Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > “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.” Alternately: “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 mounting three giant dangling balls." ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/42 "2013-08-25T21:16:45Z")
“What happened to your girlfriend, that really cute train conductor from Ohio?” “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 taking a Cleveland Steamer” ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/43 "2013-08-26T04:57:31Z")
“What happened to your girlfriend, that really cute math student?” “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 in bed trying to solve for geodesics on non-Euclidean metrics, and despite being her boyfriend I had no knowledge of any of her interests, so I assumed it was a sex thing and broke up with her.” ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/44 "2013-08-26T05:53:06Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > Dumb math joke if you ask me. (IOW I was reading too much into it) > So there’s nothing special about “3 unknowns?” There’s not some math equation that’s well known with 3 unknowns? 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?”** _ > > Why Did the Chicken Cross the Möbius Strip? To get to the same side. > Now THAT’S a funny math joke! (bolding mine) I am by no means, even close to being very good at mathematics. :smack: I can do any and all of the stuff that involves ‘real numbers’, but I just never seemed to be able to grasp the concept of “x+y=6x”. 😕 How do you solve _ **that** _ problem? (JFTR, that’s a _rhetorical_ question. I do not wish for anyone to attempt to ‘fight my ignorance’ by trying to explain advanced mathematics, to me. My math skills are sufficient for me, and the trades that I regularly But how can anyone _ **not** _ see the humor in “she’s wrestling with 3 x’s”? 😛 “Wrestling with 3 'exe’s.” (as in, 3 ex-boyfriends or ex-husbands) IMHO, that’s the funniest version of that joke, so far. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745/45 "2013-08-26T12:52:57Z")
I believe we have _definitively_ proven that explaining a joke ruins it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-joke-please/666745.md?page=2)