Questions tagged [jokes]

Questions about humorous expressions, jokes, puns, etc.

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Joke "Hipster burns his mouth" - why is it funny?

The joke is: why did the hipster burn his mouth? Because he drank his coffee / ate his pizza / etc. before it was cool. Why is it funny? Does the hipster have special meaning or background?
6 votes
1 answer
255 views

1920s postcard joke meaning? Cut some ice

Can anyone explain the meaning of this 1920’s postcard? The text reads: “I should worry like the iceman and cut some ice.” Next to this is a cartoon of a little boy with an axe chopping a large block ...
6 votes
4 answers
2k views

What does this insult mean? "Your wife, sir, under the pretense of keeping a bawdy house, is a receiver of stolen goods"

"Your wife, sir, under the pretense of keeping a bawdy house, is a receiver of stolen goods" -Samuel Johnson I cannot find an explanation anywhere on the internet. Is "stolen goods"...
2 votes
3 answers
556 views

What is the meaning of this joke? [closed]

Behold the joke in its original glory The judge looked down upon the counsel and said, Judge: Listen, counsel. I have been listening to you for three hours, and I am none the wiser. Barrister: I ...
22 votes
10 answers
5k views

Would there be a way to make the joke "Ella es mi amiga vieja, disculpe, mi vieja amiga" work in English?

There is a Spanish joke, Ella es mi amiga vieja, disculpe, mi vieja amiga. The joke basically says, "She is my friend that is old, excuse me, my old friend", making fun of the person's age....
1 vote
0 answers
24 views

Can you please explain this joke by Samuel Johnson? [duplicate]

In Life of Johnson, we read the following: a fellow having attacked him with some coarse raillery, Johnson answered him thus, 'Sir, your wife, under pretence of keeping a bawdy-house, is a receiver ...
0 votes
1 answer
5k views

What is the origin of the '7 8 9' joke?

Everybody knows the iconic joke, which goes like this: Why was 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 8 9. When I search 'why was 6 afraid of 7 etymology' my results are irrelevant, mostly explaining the humor ...
1 vote
1 answer
686 views

That's What She Said Quote

Okay, I'm sure most of you have seen this T-Shirt before. But I got to thinking about it the other day. It is obviously a reference to the time-honored tradition of That's what she said in response ...
16 votes
12 answers
4k views

English version of Russian proverb "The hedgehogs got pricked, cried, but continued to eat the cactus"

Is there anything in English similar to this Russian joke/proverb/or you could even say sarcasm: "The hedgehogs got pricked, cried, but continued to eat the cactus". It describes people ...
2 votes
1 answer
120 views

Term for (humorous) sentences that end in unexpected ways [duplicate]

I'm trying to find the term that refers to a certain type of joke. These jokes generally have the following characterstics: generally only one sentence long the first half is straightforward and ...
0 votes
1 answer
2k views

“Why does a Moon-rock taste better than an Earth-rock?” joke meaning [closed]

In the last episode of “The Last of Us” TV show there is the following pun: Why does a Moon-rock taste better than an Earth-rock? Because it's a little meteor. What's the wordplay here? P.S. I've ...
3 votes
1 answer
823 views

At what point did most English speakers know the joke, "What time is it? Time for you to get a watch!"? [closed]

When is the first documented usage of the joke, "What time is it? Time for you to get a watch!"? At what point in history would most English-speakers know this joke, meaning, if you stopped ...
-1 votes
1 answer
31 views

Is "being away from home a good deal" strictly habitual?

On his internment during WWII, P. G. Wodehouse commented: The chief drawback is that it means your being away from home a good deal. Striking. Because, I think, he's slightly stretching the use of ...
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

Does a second meaning of "Hypotenuse" exist?

I've recently saw this comic strip: (source: cartoonistgroup.com) You may be right, Pythagoras, but everyone’s going to laugh if you call it a “hypotenuse”. Does "hypotenuse" have a ...
0 votes
2 answers
482 views

Word for "things that make you laugh"

Is there an English word or phrase that describes a particular type of moment or thing that would make you laugh or enjoy? For example, Some people might think animals are funny, but it might be ...
-2 votes
2 answers
126 views

Can someone explain this joke?

So I went to the watch shop. I said, "I wanna buy a watch". He said "Analogue?" I said, "No, just the watch".
6 votes
4 answers
5k views

What is the origin of the joke 'a freckle past a hair' when one is asked the time of day?

Growing up in Canada, I heard this dialogue a hundred times:\ Dude: "What time is it?" Guy pantomimes watch-checking, but his wrist is bare Guy: "It's a freckle past a hair." ...
-2 votes
1 answer
190 views

Please help me understand a joke

I don’t quite understand the "Ad Land" cartoon by David T. Jones. Could you explain the meaning to me? I will attach the screenshot of this cartoon, but you can also find it here: https://...
0 votes
1 answer
577 views

First appearance of "ran over a cockerel" Joke

With the death of the UK Comedy Legend that was Barry Cryer, many of the obituaries are mentioning his favorite joke (which is proliferating across the internet yet again) ... was once asked by the ...
2 votes
1 answer
80 views

Grants distribution but with pejorative connotation [closed]

Is there a bitter phrase that signals pejorative connotations when talking about grants distribution? Unfortunately, grants system is not perfect and can be abused by irresponsible people who suck-up ...
1 vote
2 answers
40k views

What is a proper response to a joke about visiting dentist at 2:30/tooth hurty? [closed]

I advised my client that I would be unavailable on a particular day because I have an appointment with the dentist to remove a tooth. The client responded What time is the appointment? 2:30? The ...
0 votes
0 answers
69 views

What is the humor in "water's warm and deep" while relieving oneself?

The two men halted at the edge of the canal, hiked their tunics, then fumbled with their loincloths. Soon two arcs were gurgling across the filmy surface. “Hmm,” Xinemus said. “The water’s warm.” Even ...
1 vote
0 answers
268 views

Meaning of "Guess what ? Corgi butt"

It seems the sentence "Guess what ? Corgi butt" is quite popular: a web search provides a wealth of stickers, mugs and T-shirts with the same exact wording (and many cute corgis in different ...
3 votes
6 answers
5k views

Term for a joke with a missing punchline

What do you call a joke that has a punchline which as been emphatically implied through omission, as in... [Comedian peeling banana, saying...] "one skin, two skin, three skin, (pregnant pause)....
11 votes
6 answers
4k views

Didn't understand joke about No Child Left Behind [closed]

I was watching this video. At around 30:00, Chomsky exaplins that he never went to Chemistry class nor to Chemistry lab and he got a A nevertheless. Then he makes a joke: "This approach has a ...
69 votes
4 answers
10k views

Is there a term for the type of misleading joke comedians such as Stephen Colbert often use?

The Late Show host, Stephen Colbert (an American talk show host, don't mind that, just think of him as some random guy you don't have to care about) quite often uses a type of joke whereby he ...
1 vote
4 answers
44k views

What exactly does this "play a country song backwards" joke mean?

So I come across this joke,which rather confuses me. — What do you get when you play a country song backwards? — You get your house back, your wife back, your dog back, your truck back... I just ...
0 votes
1 answer
122 views

Couldn't understand the humour

Gandhi went in his loincloth to Buckingham Palace and met the king. Later, when somebody asked him if he felt that was proper, Gandhi replied: "The king had enough for both of us." Full article: ...
0 votes
1 answer
117 views

Meaning of a joke [closed]

Visitor to a village stops a local and asks, "How do I get to Aberdeen from here?" Local answers, "Och, if I were going to Aberdeen, I wouldn't start from here!" What does this joke imply ?
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

Meaning of the joke about the fish and the dam [closed]

There is the joke. -What did the fish say when he ran into the wall? -Dam. Could someone explain it to me, please? As far as I can tell the joke is all about the intended pun: the dam sounds similar ...
-2 votes
1 answer
154 views

Why it's funny when a husband says he is thankful to have someone he enjoys being quarantined with and the wife says it must be nice? [closed]

Why it's funny when a husband says he is thankful to have someone he enjoys being quarantined with and his wife says it must be nice (sorry about the long title). Thank you!
2 votes
5 answers
8k views

(Joke) Batchers Vs. Butchers

Here's the script from Inside No. 9 Nana's Party You can get them quite cheap now, can't you? It's all Marks's, actually. Apart from the ham, which I got from the local batchers. From ...
-1 votes
1 answer
1k views

What does "do you like potatoes" mean? [closed]

I heard "Do you like potatoes" from a native speaker, but I couldn't understand him. Could you help me asap? Thanks for your attention.
15 votes
13 answers
30k views

Phrase for criticism/insults concealed with humor

Passive aggressive people will sometimes veil insulting, critical, derogatory or generally aggressive comments with humor. The patina of humor makes the comment seem like a joke, not to be taken ...
1 vote
1 answer
10k views

She turned me into a newt, but I got better [closed]

From Monty Python and the holy grail: BEDEVERE: What makes you think she is a witch? VILLAGER #3: Well, she turned me into a newt. BEDEVERE: A newt? VILLAGER #3: I got better. How ...
2 votes
1 answer
5k views

Joke about a magical tractor, I dont get it

The joke is: Did you hear about the magic tractor? It turned into a field. What is the joke about? I am thinking that the tractor is abandoned and the field cover it, I cant imagine other ...
1 vote
0 answers
2k views

...Your baby gonna come out naked

I heard this in a casual how-to video. It seemed random and not associated with anything they were doing. Someone said, "My favorite one is... your baby is going to come out naked. If you keep working ...
-1 votes
2 answers
80 views

In the context, the translation of the phrase FLASHY BOI "5 hours of debugging VS / flashy boi" [closed]

In the context, the translation of the phrase FLASHY BOI? "5 hours of debugging VS / flashy boi"
2 votes
1 answer
538 views

Origin of "my dog ate my homework"?

Is there a specifc incident or origin story for the common joke/comedic phrase "my dog ate my homework"? I always wondered whether there was a student who became notorious for not turning in their ...
9 votes
5 answers
4k views

Analyzing Will Ferrell's "I Thought" joke

I'm reading Will Ferrell's Twitter where he wrote Just thought a thought but the thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought I thought. Does the sentence still have the same meaning if you ...
9 votes
2 answers
195k views

What do you call two words that contradict each other in a sentence?

I'm having trouble as to what you call two words that contradict each other. For example, "That was weirdly normal." I think this kind of word play is used in puns and jokes. But I do not know how you ...
9 votes
2 answers
96k views

Origin of "deez nuts"

I really hate to ask this one, but... When I was a child, some thirty plus years ago, there was a popular juvenile game where you would try to trick a friend into asking a question that could be ...
21 votes
2 answers
4k views

What is the meaning of joke "may it plizzle the cozizzle" in Futurama?

In Futurama 5ACV16, character Leela, while in court, says "May it plizzle the cozizzle" instead of "may it please the court" to the judge (Snoop Dogg's head). I am not native English speaker, but I ...
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

Can I call a vacuum cleaner cleaner a vacuum cleaner?

Can I call a vacuum cleaner cleaner a vacuum cleaner? This was written in a hallway. Can you help me dissect what's going on here, along with an appropriate response? By dissect, I mean I'd like to ...
3 votes
2 answers
9k views

"That's bang out of order": pun, anagram or play on words?

There is a one-liner by Tim Vine, a British stand-up comedian, that sees him pull out a card with the word... BNAG and exclaim: That's bang out of order! The joke is derived from the idiom out ...
5 votes
2 answers
18k views

Is the phrase "Take my wife – please!" a paraprosdokian?

I was reading the wiki page about paraprosdokians and I don't understand why the phrase: Take my wife – please! is classified as one.
1 vote
2 answers
5k views

Meaning of "The statement stands for itself"

This was a scene in the show The Big Bang Theory, season 2, episode 9. Sheldon and Penny are having a conversation on the staircase, which is as follows: Sheldon: Of the handful of women Leonard's ...
3 votes
3 answers
10k views

"The other side" to refer to the afterlife

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to "the other side." Now you can take this one of two ways. Either the chicken simply wants to arrive on the other side of the road, or he is suicidal and ...
-3 votes
1 answer
702 views

'Et viola' misspelling or inside joke?

Question Is et viola [sic](spelled like this intentionally) just a misspelling of et voila or is it an actual word, or perhaps an inside joke (not just a one-off thing)? Background Based on this ...
3 votes
3 answers
1k views

What's the Idiom or typical expression when a person "takes a joke further"

Imagine the use escenario for the typical expression I'm trying to find to describe when oneself or someone else builds upon a joke/silliness that was just made/said, expanding the joke, bringing a ...