Text:

One day a Police Officer found a perfect hiding place for watching for
speeding motorists. He stayed there quite commonly and it was very effective.

But one day, the officer was confused when he saw thateveryone was under the speed limit, so the officer investigated and found the problem. There was a child who was
standing on the side of the road with a huge hand painted sign which said
“Speed Trap Ahead.” But that was not it, the officer followed the road further ahead and it led the officer to the boy’s friend, another boy a few yards beyond the radar trap with a sign reading “Tips” and a bucket at his feet

…and it was full of change.

Relationship to Subject:

This was another funny story joke that was told to the subject by their mother. The mother said to have heard it from their own friend group so it was passed down to a few different groups. The subject remembers hearing this joke after school one day by their mom and did not think it was very funny, but now that they are older they think the details of the story are surprising and a little bit funny. The subject thinks that this is a true story but they are not sure if it is actually rooted in reality and they did not know any actual details of the story, so this does count as folklore in this sense.

Analysis:

I enjoyed this story and I actually found it funny. The way it was told added to the comical nature because it was told slowly and the subject tried to create a sense of suspense about the reason for the lack of speeding that day. It has two “punchlines”, one where the reason for the mystery is discovered, and another about why the reason is happening. I enjoyed hearing the story but I think that this joke would likely prove more successful with older audiences because it is more rooted in the real world and not childish or too vulgar.