On Mon, Mar 09, 2009 at 09:16:48PM +0000, Nicholas Clark said: > But we don't talk about http://xkcd.com/353/ ?
A guy is in a plane crash and wakes up on the beach of a desert island. Stumbling round the corner he runs into a group of castaways sitting round a camp fire. They rush to meet him, tend his wounds and nurse him to health. When he rcovers he joins them at the camp fire and is bewildered by the conversation - each member will call out a number and the rest of the group will collapse into hysterics. The next day he takes one of the castaways aside and asks "What was all the laughing about last night?" "Well," replies the castway "We've been here for years and by now we know each other's jokes. So we gave them all numbers and now all we have to do is say that and every body knows what the joke is". The plane crash survivor spends the next week learning all the jokes and one night sits down with the others and, when his turn in the circle comes blurts out "12!" Silence. Nothing but the chirping of crickets. One of the original castaways clears his throat tactfully, looks round at the rest of the group and then turns to the newcome and says "Sorry mate, it's just the way you tell them"