After just being convicted, a guy is sentenced to prison. On his
first day there he hangs around with his cellmate who promises to show
him the ropes. At meal time they both pick up a tray of food and find a
place to sit. Shortly thereafter, some guy in the dining hall stands up
and yells "NUMBER 34!". Suddenly the entire place goes into an uproar.
Some guys are laughing and clapping and others are rolling around on the
floor. Not long after another guy stands up and yells "NUMBER 5!".
Again, the place goes into an uproar.
The new inmate is puzzled by all this and asks his friend what was going on.
"Well", said the friend, "since we are cut off from society, we rarely
get to hear any new jokes. Since we've all heard them so many times, we
have them all numbered. So, if someone wants to tell a joke they just
shout out the number rather than repeat the entire joke since we've all
heard them before".
The new inmate ponders this for a moment and decides it is probably a
good system.
Anyway, all through lunch this continues, people shouting out numbers
followed by fits of laughter. Finally, the new inmate decides that this
may be a good way to make friends with everyone at the prison so he
stands up and yells "NUMBER 12". To his surprise and shock, no one
laughs. In fact, the place remains dead quiet. Slowly he sits back down
wondering about what has just happened. He turns to his friend and asks
why no one laughed.
The friend replies: "Well, I guess some people can tell a joke and some
can't".