9 Comments
User's avatar
John E. Canuck's avatar

Alas, this reader went down the rabbit hole of " it's not the fall that hurts, it's the landing " ( from your bicycle stories ).

The earliest match to this quip was from 1853 within an anecdote published in “The Ladies’ Repository” magazine of New York.

"After a late supper, and two or three extra glasses, Charlie Bates is apt to be somnambulistic (ed. - sleepwalking ). Night before last, being an occasion of this kind, he backed himself out of his chamber window and fell to the pavement, a distance of ten or twelve feet. A passer-by came up to condole with him, remarking, “You seem to have had a bad fall.” “My dear sir,” answered Charlie, “the fall was a trifle not worth mentioning; but the sudden stop was decidedly unpleasant.”

Stephen D Forman's avatar

3500 BCE wheel invented

1817 bicycle invented

Next big leap in wheel technology coming in the year 5300

Benjamin Errett's avatar

But will we even be a round?

Stephen D Forman's avatar

Wheel see

Sarah Murdoch's avatar

A verification code! Worried that someone will steal your jokes?

Just wanted to say that Sarah’s Venn bike is inspired. I hope it will be our next bonus postcard.

Benjamin Errett's avatar

Good idea for a drawing if not an actual vehicle! And apologies that they coded you; I'll have a word with the bouncers.

M. Louisa Locke's avatar

Well that was just dandy!

Benjamin Errett's avatar

Merci! Not to be confused with the dandy horse!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandy_horse

M. Louisa Locke's avatar

Oh, wow, I had no idea! What a hoot!