"Why did the tachyon cross the…

“Why did the chicken cross the road?”/“To get to the other side” is a classic riddle from the 19th century. A tachyon (a particle faster than light) version is:

Q: Why did the tachyon cross the road?
A: Because it was on the other side.

The joke was posted on the newsgroup net.jokes on May 31, 1985, and has been printed on many images.

Wikipedia: Tachyon
A tachyon /ˈtæki.ɒn/ or tachyonic particle is a hypothetical particle that always moves faster than light. Most physicists believe that faster-than-light particles cannot exist because they are not consistent with the known laws of physics. If such particles did exist, they could be used to build a tachyonic antitelephone and send signals faster than light, which (according to special relativity) would lead to violations of causality.

Google Groups: net.jokes
a peak joke
Alan Char
5/31/85
I’ve always liked this one:
Q: Why did the tachyon cross the road?
A: Because it was on the other side.
—Alan

Google Groups: sci.physics
Tachyons
McGill/CONCAVE Group
2/2/90
(...)
To end on a lighter side ...
Here is a joke from the UNIX fortune program:

Q: Why did the tachyon cross the road?
A: Because it was on the other side.

Google Groups: rec.arts.startrek
Throwing Rocks (Re: Romulan ships
Matt Bartley
3/20/90
(...)
A joke I heard: “Why did the tachyon cross the road? Because it was on the other side.”

Google Groups: rec.humor
Canonical List of Chicken/Road Crossing Jokes ver 0.1
Thomas Parker
1/30/94
(...)
Q: Why did the tachyon cross the road?
A: Because it was already there.

Google Groups: soc.support.fat-acceptance
Why did the chicken cross the road?
Miche and Dave
12/24/98
(...)
Why did the tachyon cross the road?
Because it was on the other side.

Twitter
ɯɐɔoɹnǝu ǝɯʎɥ‏
@hyme
Q: Why did the tachyon cross the road? A: Because it was on the other side.
4:47 PM - 27 Sep 2007

Twitter
AsapSCIENCE‏
@AsapSCIENCE
Why did the tachyon cross the road? Because it was already on the other side. #particlesciencenerds
5:03 PM - 12 Mar 2014

Twitter
Fortune CLI‏
@FortuneCli
Q:Why did the tachyon cross the road?
A:Because it was on the other side.
6:39 PM - 1 Nov 2017

“Why did the tachyon cross the road?”/“Because it was on the other side.”