We’ve all heard this joke and thousands of different variations of it. What is the typical punchline?
“To get to the other side.”
Hearing the joke for the first time as a child, we think this is a stupid, obvious answer: the chicken crossed the road to get to the other side of the road. However, since childhood we have never really reexamined the punchline. The punchline never said “to get to the other side of the road.”
The other side is death — the afterlife.
Here’s one of the earliest appearances of the joke in print:
Holy SHIT right?
And yes, you’re reading this because I just “got it” too.
Credit to AeroMental