A classic train riddle is:
Q: How do locomotives hear?
A: Through their engine ears (engineers).
The riddle was printed in the Waterloo City (IN) Press, “Queer Queries” by Prof. G. Howe Green, on February 4, 1869.
Newspapers.com
4 February 1869, Waterloo City (IN) Press, “Queer Queries” by Prof. G. Howe Green, pg. 4, col. 1:
How do locomotives hear?–Through their engine ears (engineers.)
4 January 1870, Daily Eastern Argus (Portland, ME), pg. 1, col. 8:
How do locomotives hear?–Through their engineers.
Google Books
25 June 1870, Harper’s Bazar, pg. 416, col. 4:
How do locomotives hear?–Through their engineers.
Google Books
The Handbook of Conundrums
By Edith Bertha Ordway
New York, NY: Sully and Kleinteich
1915
Pg. 126
How do locomotives hear? Through their engin-eers.
Google Books
Just Jokes a Collection of Kids Jokes
By Phyllis Agles-Johnson
Lulu Press (Lulu.com)
2010
Pg. 18:
Q. How do locomotives hear?
A. Through the engineers
Twitter
Pearl Lane-Soliz
@PearlLaneSoliz
[Joke Time] How do locomotives hear? ... Through the engineers. #jokes #funny
5:35 PM · Apr 8, 2010·Twitter Web Client
Google Books
Riddles, Riddles, Riddles:
Enigmas and Anagrams, Puns and Puzzles, Quizzes and Conundrums!
By Joseph Leeming
Mineola, NY: Dover Publications
2014
Pg. 160:
How do locomotives hear?
Through their engineers (engine-ears).
Reddit—Dadjokes
Posted by u/MyJelloJiggles May 10, 2020
How do locomotives hear?
Through the engineers.
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
This site is edited by Barry Popik.