OFF TOPIC: Joke No. 387 in the Set room (Two parts)
Not sure if Jokes are wanted on the Forum, But this is a Langeleben special that I have made (it comes in two parts, two linked jokes) for the members here and also for Marlene to use in the Newsletter if she later needs a space filler....
Several Signalmen and I-Corps staff were sitting around in the Set room.
Then during a quiet period, one of the Signalmen shouted out "387"!
The others suddenly all laughed loudly at this Number.
A new I-Corps Rupert in charge, who had never seen or heard
this kind of behaviour before was totally bamboozeled. Where they
Quoting Queen's Regs and poking fun at him? He tried to recall what
Paragraph 387 was...?
But before he could work it out, another signalman shouted out "624!"
and again guffels of laugher erupted from all sides.
The Rupert was getting worried, was this the prelude to a mutiny? or
had Marlene put some funny tablets in the NAAFI tea urn? He decide to
ask the Staff Sargent what was going on.
The S/Sgt knew what the code was and told the worried Rupert the
following:-
These Signallers (like the rest) told jokes when bored, and being stuck
up here in Langeleben were considerably more bored than most, and so
told Jokes to pass the time, but like all Royal Signals members, they
soon knew most of their jokes quite well.
In fact so well (and being smart but lazy, like all Soldiers) that they had
over time assigned numbers to them. In order to save time, so instead
of telling the joke they would just shout out the number.
They occasionally even sent these Joke Numbers over the radio by Morse
code and so not only shared a good laugh, but also saved their wrist
power, which some of the single men - Signalmen needed for later.
"I see" said the Rupert, trying to take it all in.
After a while another of the Signallers shouted "834". The others
laughed only mildly at this one.
"495" shouted another Signalman. Most of the others laughed
mildly at this one too. There was one however one young signalman in
the set room who was rolling on the floor and laughing hysterically at
that particular joke.
The officer tackled the young Signaller who was rolling on the floor
in an attempt to get him back into an upright position!
Everytime it seemed he had calmed down, the young man burst out
laughing again.
Eventually when he was recomposed, the Officer asked him "What is it
was about joke 495 that is so funny?"
"I had never heard that one before Sir!", replied the young Signaman.
Petra
Part two (A few days later....)
A few days Later, the I-Corps Officer is back on duty and the same procedure
as before.
The Officer, seeing how others got a laugh by someone in the Set room
shouting out the joke numbers, waits for a quite period then shouts
out "242!"
No one laughs. He tries another, "237"! Again, no response. He tries
one final time, "752!" Nothing but confused glassy stares.
He asks the Staff Sargeant, "Why doesn't anyone laugh at mine?"
The S/Sgt replies, "Some people just aren't very good at telling jokes
Sir."
