I always find myself confused about the intentions of the joke or the joke teller when they end it in the way you propose. I’d get it, but then be wondering “did the joke teller get it?” or “was there some other punch line that the joke teller intended me to figure out but I didn’t?”.
It’s similar to most of the tests I took in school. I’d spend most of the time figuring out what the teacher intended the answer to be rather than actually learning anything new.
Not smart enough to pretend to be dumb when asked for his reasons, is he.
How else are we supposed to get a punchline?
If you just cut everything from “Later” in the third-to-last paragraph onward, smart readers would probably still get it but it would be less obvious.
I always find myself confused about the intentions of the joke or the joke teller when they end it in the way you propose. I’d get it, but then be wondering “did the joke teller get it?” or “was there some other punch line that the joke teller intended me to figure out but I didn’t?”.
It’s similar to most of the tests I took in school. I’d spend most of the time figuring out what the teacher intended the answer to be rather than actually learning anything new.
The guy is leaving town and will not come back. He’s paying the kid ten bucks to know.