Riddle joke
{{Short description|Type of riddle}}
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, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YJDYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA9 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
= 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:
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A: A poodle in front of a drugstore with cotton swabs on sale.Salcia Landmann, Der Jüdische Witz, Soziologie und Sammlung ("The Jewish Humor, Its Sociology and a Collection", citing from the Russian translation: Еврейское остроумие, 2002, {{ISBN|978-5-9953-0202-5}}, p. 17.}}
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A: Judge Karapetyan in his pool.}}
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A: Tailor Hovhannes having swallowed a needle.}}