I don't understand the joke

I was reading the script for Predator. The scene early in the movie where the two helicopters are taking Arnold’s team to start the mission.
The original joke Hawkins tells Billy goes like this:

HAWKINS
Hey, Billy, how many marines does it take to eat a squirrel?

Billy looks back, shaking his head, uncomprehending.

HAWKINS
Two. One to eat it and one to watch for cars.

What does that mean? :thinking:

It implies that not only would Marines eat roadkill, but that they’d eat it right there on the road.

Right. I means the guy eats roadkill rather than a squirrel he shot.

I’d always heard the punchline as:
“Three. One to eat and two to stop traffic!”

Oh! I figured they were taking a shot of some kind at the Marines (the team being some sort of special forces group.)

Thanks, kenobi. :+1:

Well, you have to be kinda stupid to stand in the middle of the road eating roadkill… That’s how roadkill happens.

Marines are TOUGH! Cars don’t hit them, they hit cars!

It also implies that the marines couldn’t actually kill a squirrel, but needed to find one already dead.

If it comes down to survival, roadkill will do.

But you don’t have to eat it in the middle of the road.

:laughing:

They can eat it in the road if they want to. They’re TOUGH!

I’m glad they replaced that with the big pussy jokes.

Only in Soviet Russia.