# What's the punch line to This Joke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 19, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-punch-line-to-this-joke/251219 "2004-06-19T19:20:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-punch-line-to-this-joke/251219/41 "2004-06-22T16:15:15Z")
> [@Mycroft Holmes](#): > > That should be “wheigh” the cans. :smack: Are you sure? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-punch-line-to-this-joke/251219/42 "2004-06-22T18:22:25Z")
If a plane carrying 50 Americans and 50 Canadians crashes right on the border between the U.S. and Canada, where do they bury the survivors? ---
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-punch-line-to-this-joke/251219/43 "2004-06-22T18:24:29Z")
WOW, is that an old one. You don’t bury survivors, duh. :-p ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-punch-line-to-this-joke/251219/44 "2004-06-22T19:15:33Z")
Not if you want to collect the insurance. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-punch-line-to-this-joke/251219/45 "2004-06-22T19:16:25Z")
…:smack: … :o . . . . … :mad: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :eek: ☹ :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :mad: no message. I just thought that the smilies in the spoiler boxes looked cool. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-punch-line-to-this-joke/251219/46 "2004-06-22T19:24:08Z")
> [@Mycroft Holmes](#): > > Take one can fron the first machine, two cans from the second machine, three cans from the third machine, etc. Way the cans and subtract 550 from the number of ounces you see on the scale, since you will have 55 cans in all. The result will be the number of the machine with the larger cans. Dude, if you’re allowed to take the cans out, then you can visually determine which cans are larger. No need for a scale. 'Course, we could hypothesize that these are all 12 oz cans (or so), giving them a uniform size. Of course, they’d all be partially full. Even then though, you can pretty much tell which cans contain the extra ounce just by hefting them in your hand. Now, we could postulate that the cans are so heavy that no human being would be able to tell the difference by hand, but that strikes me as a needlessly elaborate restriction to add. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-punch-line-to-this-joke/251219/47 "2004-06-22T21:17:15Z")
Car Talk had a puzzler recently that was similar to the cans puzzle, only more elegant and harder, IMO. Basically, you got seven piles, a hundred coins in each pile. Each pile is composed entirely of either real coins (which weigh 10 grams) or counterfeit coins (which weigh 11 grams). You’ve got a very accurate digital scale, and need to figure out which piles of coins are real and which piles are counterfeit. What’s the fewest number of weighings you need in order to accomplish this task? Car Talk gave a hint, which flabbergasted me: you only need one weighing and so I spent the next half-hour of my drive trying to figure out the answer. I got the basic principle fairly quickly, but it took me awhile to figure out exactly how to accomplish the trick, until I remembered the following, which is a much bigger hint than what Car Talk gave: binary code That was actually a pretty good puzzle. Some of those lateral thinking puzzles suhuck: the answers they provide are nowhere near as elegant as some possible answers would be. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_Holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a5b964/32.png) [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-punch-line-to-this-joke/251219/48 "2004-06-23T07:58:48Z")
> [@harmless](#): > > Are you sure? 😛 Gotverdomme! I forgot how to spell! :smack: (I won my school spelling bee in the fourth grade. My teacher would be embarrased, to say the least.) I just love “gotverdomme”. When pronounced correctly it sounds much better than “Goddamn”. Not only does it mean the same thing, but it actually sounds like you’re spitting up a hairball at the same time you’re cursing! 😃 The correct spelling is of course: “weigh” ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-punch-line-to-this-joke/251219/49 "2004-06-23T14:24:31Z")
> [@harmless](#): > > I bought the game [_Mindtrap_](http://www.mindtrapgames.com) years ago and haven’t played it as it was meant even once. > It’s fun to just take the cards out and try to figure out the riddles. If you liked Mindtrap, you’ll like _Crack the Case_. Each card is a murder mystery, and you give the scenario and answer yes or no questions until they solve the puzzle. I love these games. It helps you expand your mind. But it was funny playing the game because as you went through the cards the murders got more and more convuluted, so we’d start by shouting out, “Did she die by electrocution with a VCR and a hot tub?” “Did he die because a bird pecked him to death?” “Did she die by eating poisoned ice cream?” because those were solutions to previous mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-punch-line-to-this-joke/251219/50 "2004-06-23T14:26:50Z")
[http://www.angelfire.com/games/zombiereviews/reviews/crackthecaservw.html](http://www.angelfire.com/games/zombiereviews/reviews/crackthecaservw.html) Review of _Crack the Case_. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-punch-line-to-this-joke/251219/51 "2004-06-28T02:17:40Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > No no no…the guy’s in _his living room_, so he’s not at the ski resort. He’s the travel agent, who sold the man the airplane tickets to the resort. The man’s was a round trip, the wife’s was one-way. Or something like that. Because of course, the murderer would be incredibly stingy and try to save a few bucks, being too shortsighted to realize that he would be pointing a big finger labled “HE DID IT” at himself, all so we could have this riddle to figure out. Yeah, not to mention that the agent’s name must be Raymond Babbitt, if he instantly recognizes the name(s) and connects them with the two-tickets-buying guy. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-punch-line-to-this-joke/251219.md?page=2)