People are shocked after finally figuring out the chicken crossed the road joke

Get ready to have your entire childhood ruined because one lad has revealed a darker meaning behind this classic joke.

It's the definition of an oldie but a goodie: why did the chicken cross the road?

Of course, you just heard the punchline, to get to the other side, rattle through your head, but do you know what that really means?

Look, we'll be the first to admit, we thought that the joke was just a clever play on words.

And after learning it at the ripe old age of seven, we marched straight up to our parents and repeated it with immense pride, feeling like we were the smartest person in the room.

Still, like most things we thought were harmless fun from our childhood, it was eventually ruined; like the time my mum told me our dog Ben had gone off to be a sheepdog on a farm, only for my mates to call bulls**t years later.

And if you thought that was depressing, wait until you hear the real reason behind the punchline.

So, why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side and according to Twitter, the 'other side' means death.

Yep, its safe to say that we were bowled over by the idea that our clever childhood joke was actually an incredibly dark pun.

And Twitter was just as shocked, with one user saying: "I was today years old when I realised the joke about the chicken crossing the road was not about a chicken crossing the road just to cross the road. It's about the metaphorical other side.

"Chicken suicide. I-IT WAS A PUN THE WHOLE TIME?????"

Another added: "Yo…some of y’all don’t know the joke 'why’d the chicken cross the road?' is a joke about suicide…like cuz no one is stopping for a chicken and the other side is well…'the other side.'"

However, others argued that the suicide aspect of the joke was merely people overanalysing a harmless bit of fun, a bit like your English teacher reading too far into the meaning of 'blue curtains' in your class book.

As one user fought back: "No. No it's not. The joke is that there was no joke.

"Because if you were right the punchline is 'Why did the chicken cross the road? TO LITERALLY KILL ITSELF' and that... makes no sense. Not even as dark humour.

"Were YOU telling the joke as a suicide joke?"