A riddle joke, joke riddle, pseudo-joke, or conundrum is a riddle that does not expect the asked person to know the answer, but rather constitutes a set-up to the humorous punch line of the joke.Mac E. Barrick, "Racial Riddles & the Pollack Joke", Keystone Folklore Quarterly, Volume 15, Issue 1, 1970, pp. 3–15
It is one of the four major types of riddles, according to Nigel F. Barley.Nigel F. Barley (1974), "Structural Aspects of the Anglo-Saxon Riddle", Semiotica 10 (2) There are many cycles of jokes in the form of a conundrum, such as elephant jokes, "Why did the chicken cross the road?" and lightbulb jokes.
Joke cycles implying inferiority or other stereotypes of certain categories of people, such as blonde jokes or ethnic jokes (such as Polack jokes), have a considerable number of joke riddles.
Types Elephant joke Lightbulb joke Newspaper riddle "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Radio Yerevan jokes
Abstraction In areas which have historical ties with Asia Minor, such as Greece, Turkey, Armenia, of popularity are "abstract riddles" that follow templates: "What is this: A inside and B outside?" or "What is this: A is around and B in the middle?". For example:
See also Riddle-tale Trick question
References