Ask a Silly Question...
submitted by Gary Mason
Returning from an all-services conference, a Navy Officer
and an Air Force Officer found themselves seated next to
each other on the long flight from LA to DC. After an hour
or so into the flight, the Navy Officer leaned over to the
Air Force Officer and asked him if he would like to play a
fun game. Now, having worked a long string of 16 hour days,
the Air Force Officer just wanted to take a nap and
recover, so he politely declined and rolled over to face
the window to catch up on some rack time.
The Navy Officer persisted and explained that the game was
really easy and a lot of fun. He explained, "Look, it's so
easy that even an Air Force Officer can play. First, I ask
you a question and if you don't know the answer, you pay me
$5. Next, you ask me a question and if I don't know the
answer, I'll pay you $5." Again the Air Force Officer
politely declined and closed his eyes.
The Navy Officer, now somewhat agitated, said "OK, I can
understand your reluctance to play a mind game, so I'll
tell you what. If you don't know the answer to my question,
you pay me $5 but if I don't know the answer to yours, I'll
pay you $50!" This caught the Air Force Officer's
attention. Besides, it didn't seem that the Navy Officer
would stop bothering him if he didn't play. So, with a
simple nod he agreed to play the game.
The Navy Officer grinned and asked him the first question.
"To the nearest foot, what's the distance from the earth to
the moon?" Without a word, the Air Force Officer reached
into his wallet, pulled out a five dollar bill and handed
it to him.
Now, it was his turn. The Air Force Officer thought for a
couple of seconds and then asked the Navy Officer, "What
manner of man or beast goes up a hill with three legs but
comes down on four?" With that, he turned back towards the
window and tried to get some sleep.
The Navy Officer looked back at him with a puzzled look and
thought about the question. Coming up blank, he proceeded
to take out his laptop computer and searched all of his
available references. Still he found nothing. Determined
not to let an Air Force Officer outwit him, he went online
via the Airphone and his modem to search the Internet, the
Library of Congress, and a dozen other sources. Still, he
couldn't find a plausible answer. Frustrated, he sent an
Email to his fellow Navy Officers all across the globe to
assist him in finding the answer. "One of them has to know
the solution to this riddle. After all, we're the Navy and
we're dealing with an Air Force Officer. Finally, after a
couple of hours running into dead ends, the Navy Officer
woke the Air Force Officer up and handed him $50. The Air
Force Officer politely took the $50 and turned away to try
to get back to sleep. The Navy Officer, more than a little
miffed that he had been stumped by an Air Force Officer,
shook the other Officer and asked, "Well, what was the
answer!?"
Without a word, the Air Force Officer reached into his
wallet, handed the Navy Officer $5, and turned away to get
back to sleep.
This joke was found on 
Ian's HumourList
go back to the search
go back to the funny page
go back to the title list
go back to the main page
spunge@spunge.org
Added: 6-3-97
http://anduin.eldar.org/~ben/funny/html/23.html