Lord Noel Knows When His Number's Up

What ho! Pepys....

In our local pub we have an interesting system in place.....

A new chap came into town...

.... and was sitting there drinking his beer.....
....when someone stood up and shouted, "27!".....

.....and the entire bar burst into hysterical laughter. 

A few moments later someone else stood up...

... and yelled, "16!"

Once again, the entire bar burst into fits of laughter.

As the laughter died away....

...a third man stood up and shouted, "6!" 

"Oh yes! Brilliant!" I exclaimed....

....Again, everyone in the bar laughed out loud. 

The completely confused stranger....

...leant across to me and asked.....

 "What's all the laughing is about?"

I replied, "Well, we're such a small town...

... that everyone knows everyone really well.....

.....and all of their jokes! 

....So to make life easier....

.... we catalogued all of our jokes. 

Now instead of telling the whole joke....

....we save time by just shouting out it's number....

.....and everyone knows what joke it is...

...and we all have a laugh."

The stranger nodded to me and smiled in agreement. 

After a few more people stood up and shouted out numbers....

....the stranger decided he wanted to join in. 

He suddenly stands up and shouts, "17!" 

But....Nobody laughs! 

He looked dispairingly at me.....

....and just I shook my head and said....

...."You just didn't tell it right!"

Tallyho!

Best Wishes - Lord Noel