A brown horse figurine leaping over a low striped pole on a green surface.

Original artwork, not a still

Henny Youngman

I bet on a horse at ten to one. It didn't come in until half-past five.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker plays on two meanings of the numbers. The bet was at odds of ten to one, but the horse finished at half-past five, hours after the time that phrase can also suggest. The joke is that the animal was absurdly slow.

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