Jokes

Sometimes, Mario and I attempt to be funny, but we are often unsuccessful in our pursuit of jocular entertainment. For instance, today on the train, we were waiting for the conductor to come and punch our tickets, so I decided to try one of my New Math jokes out on him.

"If people tried to trick me by swapping ticket stubs," I said, "I would definitely notice. Then again, I would never want to be a conductor."

"Yeah, all day, every day, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth..." He began trailing off.

"Oh! I definitely heard a joke about conductors recently. What was it?"

"Back and forth... Ha!" He starting rifling through his omnipresent notebook.

"Oooh! I got it!"

He stopped and looked up.

"Okay, so," I said. "If lightning hits the back of a train, how long before the guy driving it at the front dies, provided he's a good conductor?" I waited expectantly for a response.

Mario thought seriously for a moment. "I don't know."

"It's a pun. He has to be a good conductor to get electrocuted."

He looked confused. "But how long does it take?"

"A conductor of electricity? And a conductor on a train..."

He thought for a moment more before it dawned on him. "Oh. That makes sense."

We sat in silence for a brief moment.

"So what were you going to say?" I asked.

"Oh!" He pulled out his physics packet and began searching for it. "There's a word in here, for when the electricity goes to *(physics word)* and back to *(physics word)*, then the first one starts pulling it back, then the second one, and it goes back and forth and back and forth."

"Like alternating current?"

"I dunno. But look, I have a graph, see?"

I scooted closer and looked over his shoulder. "Um...no. I don't think I know enough physics."

"Yes you do. I just explained it. It goes back and forth and back and forth!"

"Why is that funny?"

"Oh. It's not really, I guess. It's just that it goes back and forth, just like the conductor."