“Why did the chicken cross the road?” is an old joke from the 19th century. A Möbius strip version is:
Q: Why did the chicken cross the Möbius strip?
A: To get to the same side.
The joke was posted on the newsgroup net.jokes on August 20, 1985, and has been printed on several images.
Wikipedia: Möbius strip
The Möbius strip or Möbius band (/ˈmɜːrbiəs/ (non-rhotic), US: /ˈmeɪ-, ˈmoʊ-/; German: [ˈmøːbi̯ʊs]), also spelled Mobius or Moebius, is a surface with only one side (when embedded in three-dimensional Euclidean space) and only one boundary. The Möbius strip has the mathematical property of being unorientable. It can be realized as a ruled surface. It was discovered independently by the German mathematicians August Ferdinand Möbius and Johann Benedict Listing in 1858.
Google Groups: net.jokes
I need a joke.
s. dugan
8/20/85
>
> Oh, yeah, a joke: Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip?
To stay on the same side?
Google Groups: rec.humor
New Answers to an Old Question
Andrew Rogers
12/30/92
In article
> Answers to “Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?”
> (1992 version)
Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip?
To stay on the same side!
Google Groups: rec.puzzles
Morbid Mobius
Teeni Moddy
7/21/94
(...)
Q: why did the chicken cross the mobius strip ?
A: to get to the other ... well ... hmm ...
Google Groups: rec.humor
why did the chicken cross the road…
Andrew Rogers
5/5/95
In article <3nmj0r$g…@library.erc.clarkson.edu>
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Piush Gupta) writes:
> WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?
Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip?
To stay on the same side!
Google Books
Twenty Years Before the Blackboard:
The Lessons and Humor of a Mathematics Teacher
By Michael Stueben with Diane Sandford
The Mathematical Association of America
1998
Pg. 136:
Topologist’s chicken question: Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip? Answer: To get to the other . . . uh . . . uh . . . (pause) never mind.
25 April 2003, The Daily Telegraph (London, UK), “Optional maths simply doesn’t add up” by Rachel Simhon, pg. 26:
And that is not to mention the jokes. Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip? To get to the same side.
Twitter
Mark Grandjean
@ch33z
why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip?
To get to the same side
8:57 AM - 20 Oct 2008
Graphic Joke
Möbius chicken.
September 29, 2012 by grin
Q: Why did the chicken cross the möbius strip?
A: To get to the same side.
Reddit—Jokes
Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip?
submitted January 20, 2016 by Randomfactacount
To get to the same side.
Google Books
Masters of Mathematics:
The Problems They Solved, Why These Are Important, and What You Should Know about Them
By Robert A. Nowlan
Boston, MA: Sense Publishers
2017
Pg. 284:
Q: Why did the chicken cross the Mobius Strip? A: To get to the same side.