(WYTV) – A dad joke, something old fashioned, unsophisticated, maybe worn out, tiresome, a real groaner, we call it corny.
Why that vegetable? Why not broccoli or cucumberly? Why a vegetable at all?
A couple of theories, it’s meaning as “old fashioned” may come from the 1930’s and the world of jazz. A jazz musician had to come up with new styles of playing so nothing was more deadly than being considered “corny.”
Your music made you a hayseed, someone straight from raising corn on the farm and not at all sophisticated like a city slicker.
Another theory, farmers bought seed catalogs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that, along with ads for corn seeds and such, had humorous stories and jokes among the ads and information, sort of like the Old Farmers Almanac has farming advice and the occasional bad pub.
The jokes in the catalogs were dad jokes and farmers called them corn jokes after the catalogue and eventually just “corny.”
