A man was sentenced to prison and placed in his new cell. At lights
out, he and his cellmate were chatting. In the background, the man
could hear other prisoners talking in the darkness.
Before long, one of the inmates shouted "27!" Peals of laughter soon
followed. Not long afterward, another inmate shouted "318!" and was
answered with even more laughter.
Intrigued, the man asked his cellmate, "What's the deal with calling
out numbers?"
"Well you gotta understand, man," said his cellmate. "Most of the guys
in this wing have been in here for 20 years or more. So eventually you
run out of new jokes to tell. Everyone's heard them all. In fact we
all have them memorized, and we've worked out a system where each joke
is numbered. If you want to tell one, all you need to do is call out
the number."
The new prisoner chuckled. "Wow, that's pretty neat. You think I can
give it a try?"
"Sure, newbie," his cellmate responded. "Give it a shot."
So the man waited for a lull, then yelled out "278!"
Nothing.
He tried again. "415!"
Dead silence.
The man was perplexed. He turned to his cellmate and asked, "Hey,
what's the deal here?"
"What can I say, man," his cellmate replied. "Some people just can't
tell a joke."
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