POOL TIME

What’s so funny about this? You’ll notice that the joke I just read and the dialogue in the accompanying cartoon are not identical. That’s because I’m relying on the visual elements of the cartoon to convey the punch line; and that’s not possible if you’re only listening. This is an old style kid’s riddle that’s based more on silliness than cleverness. Nevertheless even in the oral version there is still the element of surprise. The set-up question is worded in such a way as to make you think about what normally falls out of trees and are also green and fuzzy. The first thing that came to my mind was a hickory nut. They’re green and do fall out of trees but they’re not all that fuzzy. While the listener is pondering over other possible solutions, she or he gets zapped with a ridiculous answer, that is, a pool table. It’s green and fuzzy and would most certainly kill you if it fell out of a tree you happened to be under. The thing is that pool tables do not grow on trees; neither does m