Can anyone interpret the meaning of this quote:
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I’ll never know.
This famous Groucho Marx joke has many explanations given on the Internet, but I still don't get it. Can someone explain it to me in simple terms?
PS: I've spent a long time googling the meaning of this sentence. No luck so far.
Best Answer
The joke hinges on the phrase
In the first line is ambiguous, it can be read as
meaning you are in your pajamas, or
meaning the elephant is in your pajamas
Of course an elephant would never wear your pajamas, so the listener will naturally assume you are wearing the pajamas. However, the following line
Confirms the fact that the elephant was wearing the pajamas, which in itself is a funny visualisation, but on top of that to shoot an elephant wearing pajamas has never been heard of before.
The joke is based on misdirection, where the listener thinks one thing, and the teller says another
A similar joke is
Being a play on the word mold, meaning either a form or a furry growth on dead things.