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I was in a computer programming training. A code executed an output number 7 and the trainer asked ( assuming joking) "Why is 7 the most feared number?" and someone said "Because 7,8,9 ... aho ho ho.."

was the expression very native or idiomatic? what does this mean?

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Heh, because "Seven Ate Nine (7, '8,' 9)."

Ate = Eight.

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    I've heard a variation on this. "Why did 4 run away from 5? Because five sic'ed seven" which plays on the British slang phrase "sic" meaning "to attack". – Matt Thrower Jan 19 '17 at 15:36
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    @MattThrower, you mean like this, yes? – Teacher KSHuang Jan 20 '17 at 11:13
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    @TeacherKSHuang Yes, that's right. I had no idea it had made it into an official dictionary: had presumed it slang. – Matt Thrower Jan 20 '17 at 11:38
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It's a children's joke, nothing more. It's certainly not something one would encounter in everyday conversation.

The number pattern 7, 8, 9 sounds identical to seven ate nine in spoken form. A similar joke is depicted here:

enter image description here

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    Fun fact: The Turkish word for 7 ("yedi") is the same as the Turkish word for "ate". And verbs come after objects in Turkish, so you can tell this joke in Turkish as "Why was 4 afraid of 5? Because 5 6 7!" – Dan Staley Jan 17 '17 at 22:21
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    My daughers used to say it in Spanish (where, of course, the joke makes no sense at all). – Martin Argerami Jan 18 '17 at 3:12
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    This image is quite disturbing – Mehrdad Jan 18 '17 at 7:08
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    Even though I have known the joke since I was a child, the graphic made me (actually) laugh out loud. +1 for that alone! – yshavit Jan 18 '17 at 7:27
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    @DanStaley Of course, this will lose the added "extra" that 6 and 9 look so similar, giving 6 the more reason to worry. – Angew Jan 18 '17 at 9:54
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To add to Mike's excellent answer, the first time I was introduced to this joke was in a lesson about homophones. As as child this silly joke was a perfect example, and much easier to understand then something like "Did the two of you go to the park too?"

Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled and mean different things. For example ate (past tense for eat) and eight (the number).

In the case of eight and ate, even children can tell when to use them. But with too, to, and two, many adults can't even tell when they are being properly used.

Some really common English homophones are:

  • two, too, to
  • they're, there, their
  • eight, ate
  • then, than
  • buy,by
  • are, our

As a child, many of them are too confusing to easily tackle, but ate and eight, are simple. Especially if you write 8 instead of ate. And so this little, simplistic joke was used to demonstrate homophones, and how getting them wrong could change the meaning of the sentence.

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    and plenty of native English-speaking adults still don't know the difference between their, there and they're :P – Robin Hartland Jan 19 '17 at 3:26
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    I don't think then & than or are & our are homophones. The pronunciation is different. Maybe near misses such as tense, tents or caret, carrot. – Felix Eve Jan 19 '17 at 5:59
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    @FelixEve: One dialect's near misses are likely to be another's homophones. Like you, I distinguish then and than, are and our, but I know other dialects don't (certainly American English tends to merge are and our). But then, I would say I don't distinguish caret and carrot. (Perth, by the way... your profile says Melbourne?) – Tim Pederick Jan 19 '17 at 8:15
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    I used to teach English as a foreign language. In the more advanced classes, where homophones (and naturally, the topic of puns) came up, I always introduced the lesson with a classic pun: Why was the little Egyptian boy confused? Because his daddy was a mummy. – flith Jan 19 '17 at 13:25
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    native English person: then/than are never confused. However prince/prints and mints/mince are homophones, but it takes awhile to accept this as true as you start trying to over pronounce the T to make them sound different – user179876 Jan 20 '17 at 12:02

protected by ColleenV♦ Jan 18 '17 at 23:42

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