A traveling salesman couldn't find a hotel one night.
He saw a light on a deserted road, and decided to knock on the door. It turned out to be a monastery; the monks were preparing dinner.
He was invited to join the others while the food was being prepared. They sat round in a circle; each monk would recite a number and the others would laugh. Intrigued, the salesman spoke up.
“What are you guys doing?”
One of the elder monks replied, “We're telling jokes.”
“By saying numbers?”
“Yes. You see, we've heard the jokes so many times, we have them catalogued. We don’t need to tell the whole joke; we just refer to its number. Go ahead and try.”
The salesman thought for a second, and said, “78.”
The monks were in hysterics. Some were doubled over with laughter, others had tears rolling down their eyes, a few were pounding the table with their fists.
When the laughter died down, the traveler asked, “Can you tell me what’s so funny?”
“We never heard that one before!”
He saw a light on a deserted road, and decided to knock on the door. It turned out to be a monastery; the monks were preparing dinner.
He was invited to join the others while the food was being prepared. They sat round in a circle; each monk would recite a number and the others would laugh. Intrigued, the salesman spoke up.
“What are you guys doing?”
One of the elder monks replied, “We're telling jokes.”
“By saying numbers?”
“Yes. You see, we've heard the jokes so many times, we have them catalogued. We don’t need to tell the whole joke; we just refer to its number. Go ahead and try.”
The salesman thought for a second, and said, “78.”
The monks were in hysterics. Some were doubled over with laughter, others had tears rolling down their eyes, a few were pounding the table with their fists.
When the laughter died down, the traveler asked, “Can you tell me what’s so funny?”
“We never heard that one before!”