28th March 2004, 6:53 PM
That joke is only apparent when it's explained. As you said, explaining it removes it being funny. Thus, I submit that wasn't a joke at all.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)