It's the Only Trip the Establishment Would Let It Take...

Where did that silly saying about chickens crossing the road come from anyways?

According to Wikipedia, the riddle was first printed in Knickerbocker magazine, a New York City magazine, in 1847. The riddle became a widespread joke by the 1890s.

David Morin on Harvard University's Department of Physics has his own scientific take on the saying. He has written the riddle's answer from famous scientists' points of view.

For example, Morin suggests that Isaac Newton would have answered the riddle:
     Chickens at rest tend to stay at rest. Chickens in motion tend to cross roads.


 And, Carl Sagan might have answered:
     There are billions and billions of such chickens, crossing roads just like this one,
     all across the universe. [Apologies for perpetuating the misquote.]


Read Morin's other clever sayings at  Harvard's Department of Physics website.


On PlumJam's Poultry Project website, an abundance of political and apolitical answers are made about the chicken and the road riddle. One of my favorites is what Timothy Leary might have answered:


     Because that's the only trip the establishment would let it take.