to ask for your help solving this impossible riddle/joke

[killingtime9198]

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.

"And his brother was Howard AndForShort"

Fucking Thursday? I wish I'd never clicked on this thread.

I can’t wait until Thursday.

Do you really think we are going to find out on Thursday?
🤣😂🤣😂🤪

Was his name actually Steve?? Is that the joke? My dad had a friend that called him Steve. His name was Pete! He never did correct him and said it kind of stuck.

Noel Edmonds

OP, your friend and her family are monsters. Tell them that. But only after you've wrangled the answer out of them.

I hate riddles. I hate this one. I hate Boswelland Forshort and hope he falls off the post office steps.

Argh!

Fucking hell

No answer after 28 pages 😩

This reminds me of a joke-there were a group of pencils another came along and the othet pencils all laughed. This was told by a girl who loads of similar pencil themed jokes. She laughed her head off. None if the group she was telling got the joke and she never explained. Bloody annoying.

Oh my gosh I get it OP!
The answer is 12 steps!
Wow, had me for a while! That was tricky!!

This reminds me of a joke-there were a group of pencils another came along and the othet pencils all laughed.

Sounds like a broken pencil joke. Pointless.

Did he actually make it up the steps of the post office? Was he four steps short?

I left at 3.20 something - I can't travel through the millions of posts. Is there an answer? Did OP come back?

It was a windup wasn't it? Fuck sake.

Op came back. No answer til Thursday. Maybe not even then.

Thanks neverbe. She won't though. I scrolled back to 9.50pm something and I think DustuMaiden is right.

I havn't ASed OP but I think this is a bet along the lines of: 'who can start a thread on a forum and get to 500 posts by 9pm', type thing. They'll all be in the pub pissed and gandering. Tut.

Change the punctuation.

Full name: Boswell Andforshort.
Nick Name: Bos And.

There was a man, whose name was Boswell Andforshort. They called him Bos And. He walked up the post office steps.

Can't believe I read all that ..... for nothing! FFS... Thursday!!
Didn't OP say somewhere that the joke was Australian, or did I imagine that?

Anyway, I'll ask Australian DH what he thinks when he gets home.

Thursday??? FFS OP put us out of our misery and tell your friend about the thread.

From the sound of OPs friend I have to say I think it would probably just add to the hilarity to think that there's a bunch of strangers who also aren't "in" on it...

But Emmasaying seems pretty sure it's pronounced Boss-combe not Boz-combe, so why is he a Boz not a Boss?

Is there something about being called Bos as opposed to Boswell that enables or informs this person to walk to this place? Sign Language?

shortwave radio call signs

"bos" translates to "barefoot" in Dutch.

This provides no further clarification.

This thread caused me to wake up in the middle of the night to see if it has been resolved yet. I think 'but did Boscombe down’? is the most satisfying solution as it relies on all the information given (the specific information that he 'went up the steps'. rather than just went to the bank.

Roll on Thursday. In the meantime, here's a niche joke for people in the Midlands.

Who sung Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps?

• Doris Day

Her did!