The trappist monks can't talk. they sit about in the monastery praying silently, day in, day out, month in, month out. A newbie moink joins them, but he has to take the vow too.
Once a year, they allow themselvbes to speak, A great din as they all welcome the newbie, and chat at high speed in the available five minutes.
They tell jokes.
They've all heard them but the laughter and the interaction is so intoxicating that any joke will do.
Years go by, and each time it's the same: the monks know all the jokes so well that they don't actually tell the jokes in longhand, they simply refer to the reference number.
"Number 16!" says one of them and the younger monks double up with laughter whilst the older ones groan and roll their eyes.
"Fifty three!!!!" says another and they laugh their socks off, (although a few wince cos that's a rude one) saving precious time in the process.
So it goes on, each time simply shouting out a number rather than waste time telling the whole joke in full.
The newbie monk thinks this is a little strange, but doesn't want to feel left out so after a few years he decides to join :
"A hundred and twenty three !!! he ventures.
All of the monks without exception hoot with laughter.
He quietly his neighbour asks why they're laughing so very very much:
"Well we've never heard that one before!!!...."