Linguistic humor, Bad exam

Courtesy of Gene Buckley.

Lexical ambiguity

Q: River Ravi flows in which state?
A: Liquid.

Q: How can a man go eight days without sleeping?
A: By sleeping at night.

Structural ambiguity

Q: How can you lift an elephant with one hand?
A: You will never find an elephant that has only one hand.

Referential ambiguity

Q: Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?
A: At the bottom of the page.

Q: What can you never eat for breakfast?
A: Lunch or dinner.

Q: If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?
A: No time at all, the wall is already built.

Q: How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
A: Any way you want, concrete floors are very hard to crack.

Violations of Cooperative Principle

Q: What looks like half an apple?
A: The other half.

Q: If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what will it become?
A: Wet.

Q: If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in the other hand, what would you have?
A: Very large hands.

Q: In which battle did Napoleon die?
A: His last battle.

Q: What is the main reason for divorce?
A: Marriage.

Q: What is the main reason for failure?
A: Exams.