It appears that Cecil knew about the “joke” concerning -gry, as he ended the article saying the answer is “three” But nowhere in the article, nor in the comments appended thereto was the joke explained, nor the correct wording of the joke revealed. Here’s an article from a peer to Cecil (you thought he was peerless?)
The correct answer is “language” which makes much more sense if you consider the above modified by adding quotes thusly: …There are three words in “The English language.” What is the third word?..
Now, before everyone curses me (rubbing my voodoo gris-gris), I searched SDMB before posting. There have been so many references to past transgressions by newbies posting the question “What’s the third word” I thought for sure someone would have mentioned the above correction to the original joke. I could barely find anything in my search concerning -gry other than these types of reference. Either my search skills are lacking, or the original post-fests were deleted. Were they in the Winter?
One of the problems, of course, is that there is no longer a “correct wording” of the joke. Whatever the joke originally was, it got distorted. You’ve cited one version, where there third word [in “the English language”] is “language.” Cecil cited another version:
No, no, my apologies. I saw your recent Join Date and jumped to a conclusion. (Although that’s patently unfair, as I myself have lurked here for years.)
You’re right, of course, that there is no “correct” version of any joke - bad choice of words on my part. However the “language” version has an advantage over the “three” version in that it makes no false statements (if you grant the implicit "there are three words in the phrase, ‘The Engliish language’ ").
It’s just about as funny as: “Transcontinental is a long word. Spell it.” To which the correct answer is “I-T”. Ha! Ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Now why did the chicken cross the road, no really?
Thank you Exapno Mapcase. I stand corrected, shamed, humbled, contrite, etc, both at my presumption in trying to add to one of the Cecil’s untouchable masterpieces, as well as my egregious lack of search skills. I have learned my lesson. I shall not do it again.
