Referring to the snake, `an adder' was originally `a nadder' (derived from the Old English word `naedra', meaning `serpent'), but the `n' jumped from the noun to the indefinite article. The time that this happened is an upper bound on the age of the pun. Sincerely, Adam P. Goucher http://cp4space.wordpress.com
----- Original Message ----- From: Dan Asimov Sent: 01/01/14 09:58 PM To: math-fun Subject: Re: [math-fun] Go forth & multiply !
A joke ending with that punchline was published in VooDoo when I was an undergrad. At the time I thought it hilarious and laughed for a long while.
--Dan
P.S. I wonder how old the basic pun is.
On 2014-01-01, at 1:46 PM, Tom Rokicki wrote:
I always prefer telling this one with the punch line
"Even adders can multiply with a log table"
reworking the lead-in as appropriate.
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