# Lateral Thinking Puzzles - third time is best! **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [July 18, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214 "2023-07-18T13:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 164
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3261 "2025-05-25T12:28:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Does the joke involve tricking the listener into saying something that has some other, obvious meaning? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3262 "2025-05-25T12:32:11Z")
Can the hearer easily and safely laugh? Could you come up to me on a busy street and tell this joke to me and get the expected reactions? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3263 "2025-05-25T12:37:43Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Can the hearer easily and safely laugh? Sure. > [@](#): > > Could you come up to me on a busy street and tell this joke to me and get the expected reactions? If I walked up to you on a busy street, and said this while you were just standing there minding your own business, I doubt it’d be effective; I’ve never tried it in such a situation, and see no reason to. ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3264 "2025-05-25T14:46:50Z")
Are there any nonverbal components to the joke? (Thought of “Interrupting Starfish”.) Is the listener being kept busy while the observers laugh? Is part of the joke something the listener is doing at the moment? ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3265 "2025-05-25T14:48:42Z")
Does it require the mark to have just done something you might regard as clumsy? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3266 "2025-05-25T14:58:46Z")
> [@Ana\_Byrd](#): > > Are there any nonverbal components to the joke? (Thought of “Interrupting Starfish”.) Nothing like that. > [@](#): > > Is the listener being kept busy while the observers laugh? Not sure what you have in mind, but I don’t think that’s it; when it’s worked, it’s been that he simply pays attention to me while I’m talking — and then I stop talking — and then other people laugh, and he doesn’t, while _nothing else is going on._ > [@](#): > > Is part of the joke something the listener is doing at the moment? At what moment? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3267 "2025-05-25T15:18:13Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > Does it require the mark to have just done something you might regard as clumsy? The entire time I’m aware of them — from before I say the 14-word setup, and on through to when I pause to hear their spoken response, and then while I deliver the 7-word followup that tends to draw a laugh from others — the person I’m speaking with could remain _motionless_ apart from, y’know, moving their mouth to speak. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3268 "2025-05-25T16:24:01Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > At what moment? At any moment… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3269 "2025-05-25T16:28:12Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > At any moment… I only say it in response to them having just done something. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3270 "2025-05-25T23:42:02Z")
Are people laughing at what is being said? Could I, right now and with no special preparation, do this joke and expect to get the same kind of response? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3271 "2025-05-25T23:45:34Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Are people laughing at what is being said? Yes. > [@](#): > > Could I, right now and with no special preparation, do this joke and expect to get the same kind of response? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3272 "2025-05-25T23:56:26Z")
does the joke work because your mark isn’t saying anything and waiting for more to come from you? I’m thinking along the lines that you are talking, then seem to stop halfway through, where the mark is expecting you to continue, but the audience finds it humorous that the mark is standing there sort expectantly dumbfounded. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2025, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3273 "2025-05-26T00:02:20Z")
Is the joke A culture reference? A play on words? One that requires physical animation? A historical reference? One that requires a specific response from the person being told? Require the English language? . ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2025, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3274 "2025-05-26T00:47:10Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > does the joke work because your mark isn’t saying anything and waiting for more to come from you? Not really, no; it’s pretty clear that I’m done talking, and that neither of us is waiting for the other to add anything. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2025, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3275 "2025-05-26T00:55:42Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Is the joke > > A culture reference? > > A play on words? > > One that requires physical animation? > > A historical reference? > > One that requires a specific response from the person being told? > > Require the English language? It’s not a play on words, would presumably work just as well in a different language, and requires no physical animation. I don’t need a _specific_ response when I pause — just some kind of encouragement to continue — and I wouldn’t say it involves a historical or culture reference, if you mean ‘something that could serve as a JEOPARDY question-and-answer’. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2025, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3276 "2025-05-26T01:14:34Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I only say it in response to them having just done something. Would it help if we were to determine what kind of thing would prompt you to tell the joke? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2025, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3277 "2025-05-26T02:08:00Z")
> [@dirtball](#): > > Would it help if we were to determine what kind of thing would prompt you to tell the joke? Yeah, I’d say it’d help. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3278 "2025-05-27T13:29:46Z")
Why is the target not laughing? Do they not find the joke funny? are they embarrassed? confused? waiting for something? > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I only say it in response to them having just done something. Let’s talk about the something the target has “just done” to elicit your joke. Is it related to: work school food/drink transportation recreation? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3279 "2025-05-27T16:16:42Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Let’s talk about the something the target has “just done” to elicit your joke. Is it related to: > work > school > food/drink > transportation > recreation? I’d have to say “recreation.” As to why they’re not laughing, they apparently don’t find it funny; they don’t seem to be confused, or waiting for anything — and, as it happens, they haven’t struck me as particularly embarrassed, but I can’t rule that out. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/3280 "2025-05-27T20:30:06Z")
does it have to do with sex or a sexual organ or anything like that? Or does it have to do with drinking or drugs? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=163) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=165)