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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask for your help solving this impossible riddle/joke

999 replies

killingtime9198 · 03/12/2018 10:57

My best friend's family have a family 'joke', which she originally told me about when we were about 12/13. When she originally told me she didn't get the joke either, but then later did manage to work it out. When she first met her now husband he didn't get it, but he later also worked it out. I have never managed to get it, and every now and again I will remember the saga of this joke (this has been going on for about 20 years now), try desperately for a few days to work it out and then forget all about it for months.

Anyway, I wonder if the powers of mumsnet can either locate someone who has heard this 'joke' before, or who can work it out!

The joke is:

'There once was a man called Boswell. For short they called him Bos, and he walked up the post office steps.'

The joke is definitely NOT that there is no joke, and they're all having a laugh at me for trying to work it out - I am 100% confident of this.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
10
Planesmistakenforstars · 03/12/2018 17:35

OP Have you asked the friend, husband and other people who didn't get it and now do, if they actually find it funny? And when you do eventually find out what it is, make sure you immediately tell all the family who don't know and everyone they subsequently meet what it is, so this unbelievable twattery can be ended. The family really do sound like bellends.

ForgetMeLots · 03/12/2018 17:35

Old news

StripySocksAndDocs · 03/12/2018 17:36

No Pipnik, no Wiltshire connection. I conclude:

There was a person
They had a name and got called a shorter name.
They went somewhere.

(I have been to Wiltshire though.)

BloodyUseless · 03/12/2018 17:37

Well I think that’s the riddle. It is shit granted.

Well I suppose it's an attempt at least. I just think that "it's a massive troll" is a far more likely "solution".

Whisky2014 · 03/12/2018 17:38

Old news Grin lol!!

ForgetMeLots · 03/12/2018 17:38

This is a man called Boswell.

Smug bastard

to ask for your help solving this impossible riddle/joke
BloodyUseless · 03/12/2018 17:39

They went somewhere.

Yes, woman, but WHY?!

BumsexAtTheBingo · 03/12/2018 17:39

You could well be right BloodyUseless. The red flags are there!

Whisky2014 · 03/12/2018 17:40

LOL

This is actually hilarious.

mum2015 · 03/12/2018 17:40

Bos wanted to be boss. It had a letter missing. So he went to post office to get the letterSmile

ErrolTheDragon · 03/12/2018 17:41

You could well be right BloodyUseless. The red flags are there!

Maybe the clue is in the OPs NN?Grin

ButchyRestingFace · 03/12/2018 17:42

Bos wanted to be boss. It had a letter missing. So he went to post office to get the letter smile

Apparently it doesn't matter where Bos goes. Sad

TheMobileSiteMadeMeSignup · 03/12/2018 17:43

Literally only posting so I see any update. I have no bloody idea.

mum2015 · 03/12/2018 17:44

Because he can't get the letter and can't be boss!!!

StripySocksAndDocs · 03/12/2018 17:45

Me: They went somewhere.

BloodyUselesses: Yes, woman, but WHY?!

Well! How nosey. I think it's their business

ChinkChink · 03/12/2018 17:46

'And for short they called him Bos' or even from the OP 'For short they called him Bos' is quite strange phrasing. One would normally say something like 'People called him Bos for short.' or similar.

So I think 'for short' holds the clue somehow.

Original poster
killingtime9198 · 03/12/2018 17:46

Promise I am not a troll! The reason the likely update is Thursday is because I’m seeing friend then. My money is on those who have bet that it’s something the teller physically does before/during/after telling the joke, or the way it’s told...

OP posts:
Whisky2014 · 03/12/2018 17:47

NO. CALL HER NOW!

IknowTheBoswellJoke · 03/12/2018 17:48

It's funny how it takes people years to 'get' it......are they just told a certain number of years later?

Botanica · 03/12/2018 17:48

Weren't the fictional family in the Tv series Bread called Boswell?

Bread is a reference to money.

Maybe hence the link to going to post office? Pick up the doll, giro etc..,

BollocksToBrexit · 03/12/2018 17:48

Is it to do with Christmas? 'Bos' has no 'well'. No well. Noel. Christmas? Confused

Boswellandtrulykillingme · 03/12/2018 17:49

**

Who the hell could keep a 12 year hanging on for 20 years??? They sound like ghastly people. Someone needs to stage an intervention to save OP from the dark forces in her life. Angry

ErrolTheDragon · 03/12/2018 17:50

Maybe hence the link to going to post office?

No, because apparently going to the library would 'work' too.

BoswellAndNotAndAFox · 03/12/2018 17:50

Did you BoswellAndNotAFox ? I’ve been here from the start following with great interest and didn’t see it! What time was your post

Oh, fuck knows, page 11:
There once was a woman called Boswell. For short, they called her - "Boz!" And she approached the PO/library wherever the fuck they'd called her from.

.

I mean, so far all the "solutions" have just been a slightly different reading of the same sentence but with the punctuation changed. It's not like some hidden meaning has been revealed.

I agree actually. It's all a red herring little goldfish called Boswelland.

Botanica · 03/12/2018 17:51

He was clearly not well.

Bos was not well.
(Four short)

The rest of it could just be a distraction.