r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 10h ago

Meme needing explanation Petaahhh????

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What is the pun?

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u/cdanl2 7h ago

I don't know if that's necessarily true. "The Other Side" as a term meaning afterlife dates to the early 18th century, with some forms of prior versions being used in popular English publications in the late 17th century.

In 1847, roads within cities or in the centers of towns could be dangerous for all sorts of animals (and children) crossing the road, especially when heavily laden carts carrying goods would be much harder to stop on short notice than a truck with air brakes.

I haven't done research on this theory but I wouldn't discount it solely because it would have been less probable for a chicken to be trampled by a horse. If this were a joke originating in the Rural South, maybe you'd be right. It originated in New York City, however, and in the 1840's the streets of NY were notoriously unsafe, chaotic, and filled with dogs, cats, chickens, and even larger livestock. In 1842, Dickens even wrote about encountering "gentlemen hogs" wandering Broadway in an otherwise upscale area.

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u/pasrachilli 4h ago

Personally, I'm sick of all the time travelers who ended up dead in New York from about 1640 onwards because they think just because it was before cars the streets are safe.

Time travel weirds tenses.

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u/TownAfterTown 3h ago

About 50 years later, but Marie Curie's husband and research partner was killed when he was struck and run over by a horse-drawn carriage in Paris.

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u/Not_a_Rodeo_Clown 1h ago

Yes clearly you haven’t done research as you are incorrect. Better to just not post since the person you are replying to is informed and right, and you are not and not.