<P> In the 1890s, a pun variant version appeared in the magazine Potter's American Monthly: </P> <P> Why should not a chicken cross the road? It would be a fowl proceeding . </P> <P> The origins of this joke emerged from picket lines during labor strikes in 19th - century America . The answer to' Why did the chicken cross the road' was originally:' To get where he was standing .' This means that the laborer had' chickened' out of the strike and crossed the picket line over to the factory . This person would also be known as a scab or a strikebreaker .' To get where he was standing' meant that he would continue to make the same income he had before the strike, and not improve his' standing' . </P> <P> Newspapers at this time were generally owned by wealthy factory owners, and they began printing alternative responses to this joke . One such response was' To get to the other side' . This was intended to disempower the picketters - by suggesting that their efforts were in vanity and the job pays what it pays . </P>

The real answer to why did the chicken cross the road