KIDS / SNEAK PEEK : WHEN IS A PAPER CUP NOT A PAPER CUP?

So you think you're funny. Maybe you can tell a joke or two. Maybe all your buddies laugh when you tell the same one over and over again. So maybe you have a why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road answer that nobody's ever heard.

So what.

The real test of a good riddle is, as everybody knows, whether it can make the side of a tiny paper Dixie cup. You know, the ones you use to wash out the Aquafresh, the ones with all those corny classic jokes on the side:

What kind of dog has no tail? (A hot dog!)

Where do cows go on Saturday night? (To the moooo-vies.)

What kind of train carries gum? (A choo-choo train.)

Many of today's adults had these riddles drilled into their heads as they rinsed and flossed in the 1970s, when the cups were introduced, recycling hundreds of jokes for five years. But Dixie stopped making them in 1977, and then brought them back last year using the same old riddles.

So, now Dixie wants your help. Dixie wants the kids of today to write the riddles of the future. If you're 12 or younger, Dixie wants to hear your favorite riddle, your best milk-through-the-nose joke, your most painful pun. It just has to be original and funnier than what most other kids across the country send.

To compete, mail your riddle, name, age, address and phone number to: Dixie Riddle Cup Contest for Kids, Suite 2400, 625 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611. Deadline is April 5.

To help judge the contest, Dixie has commissioned Frank Gorshin, who played the Riddler on the 1960s ``Batman'' TV show. The top 16 riddles (and their authors' names) will wind up on tiny paper cups next year. Also, the first-place comedian gets a $1,000 savings bond, while the other 15 get $100 bonds.

JTT on the WWW: Fans of dreamy teen actor Jonathan Taylor Thomas will get a chance to hang out with him Monday. Well, sort of.

Best-known as the son from ``Home Improvement'' and the voice of young Simba in ``The Lion King,'' Thomas will jump onto the Internet for a live chat from 5 to 6 p.m. Monday. He's kicking off his new page on a site called Celebrity Sightings (www.celebritysightings.com), a collection of ``official'' fan info for other dreamy teen types. Tia and Tamara Mowry from ``Sister, Sister,'' Danielle Fishel from ``Boy Meets World'' and Aaron Jackson from ``California Dreams'' all have pages, and may also stop in for chats. The catch is that, while you can browse the site all you want, you need to subscribe (at $5 a month) in order to chat with guests such as Thomas. Check out the sight for information.

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Photo: The real test of a good riddle is whether it can make it onto a Dixie cup. Dixie wants today's kids to write the riddles of the future.