Explain the Joke

Ebb and Flow

Posted on July 11, 2020 by stfleming

Q: What did one toilet say to the other toilet?
A: You look flushed.

Explanation: After using a toilet, you need to move the lever that sends swirling water down into the sewer. Moving that lever is called flushing. To flush a toilet is to move the lever that starts the water moving.

To look flushed is an idiom that means your face changed its look because of exercise, cold weather or embarrassment.

This joke is funny because it plays with the word flushed: what you do to a toilet after using it, or how you look after exercise.

Speaking of flushing, did you know that water really does swirl in different directions on opposite sides of the equator? Here is the proof:

Posted in ELL, ESL, humor, Joke | Tagged cold, EAL, embarrass, English, equator, ESL, expectations, flush, funny, humor, Idiom, joke, learning, toilet, water | Leave a comment

Standing for Liberty

Posted on July 4, 2020 by stfleming

Q: Why does the Statue of Liberty stand in New York Harbor?
A: Because she can’t sit down!

Explanation: Happy 4th of July to readers in the United States! Wishing you a healthy and safe Independence Day.

This joke sets up an expectation–you hope to hear why New York Harbor was chosen for the location of the Statue of Liberty. It is funny because it doesn’t answer that question. The joke tells us that the statue stands because it can’t sit down. Of course the statue can’t sit down–it’s made of metal!

Here is some information about the Statue of Liberty:

Posted in ELL, ESL, humor, Joke | Tagged EAL, English, ESL, expectations, Freedom, funny, Harbor, humor, joke, learning, New York, Sit, Stand, Statue of Liberty | Leave a comment

Bug Fest

Posted on June 27, 2020 by stfleming

Q: How do snails fight?
A: They slug it out.

Explanation: “Slug it out” is an expression that means to fight. Slug also means hit; if you slug someone, you hit someone. In baseball, a slugger is someone who good at hitting the ball.

A slug is a living thing, similar to to a snail without a shell, that is often found in nature or perhaps in your garden.

This joke is funny because it plays with “slug” and “slug it out.” The slug slugs!

Here are some slugs slugging it out:

Posted in ELL, ESL, humor, Joke | Tagged baseball, EAL, English, ESL, fight, funny, humor, Idiom, joke, learning, slug, slug it out, Slugterra, snail | Leave a comment

Get Going

Posted on June 20, 2020 by stfleming

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Cargo.
Cargo, who?
Car go, “Beep beep, vroom, vroom!”

Explanation: A knock knock joke to get you moving.

Cargo is the word for goods (things) carried by a ship, train, or truck from one place to another. A ship is loaded with cargo such as boxes, containers, cars, grain, … to move it from one place to another.

“Beep, beep, vroom, vroom!” are the sounds a small child might make while playing with toy cars. As the child makes those sounds, she or he might say in little-kid English, “Car go” meaning that the car makes noises like beep (the horn) and vroom (the engine) as it moves.

The joke is funny because in knock knock jokes you never know how it will end up. This one joins cargo with “car go.”

This is how ships are loaded with cargo:

Posted in ELL, ESL, humor, Joke, Knock knock | Tagged car, Cargo, children, EAL, English, ESL, funny, humor, joke, knock knock, ship, train, travel | 1 Comment

Cutting Corners

Posted on June 13, 2020 by stfleming

Q: What stays in the corner but travels all around the world? download
A: A stamp!

Explanation: What fun it would be to travel around the world!

A stamp is that little sticker that you put in the corner of an envelope, showing that you paid, so you can mail an envelope to another location, perhaps to another part of your country or the world. That’s right–you put the stamp in the corner of the envelope.

Normally, when you hear “stay in the corner,” you think of someone in a room, staying where the two walls come together: That is the corner of the room.

This joke is funny because it plays with the expectation of staying in the corner of a room, when the stamp is staying in the corner of the envelope and traveling all around the world.

Watch here to see Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego…

Posted in ELL, ESL, humor, Joke | Tagged Corner, distance learning, EAL, English, envelope, ESL, funny, humor, joke, Stamp, Stay, Sticker, travel, World | Leave a comment

Tall Tails

Posted on June 6, 2020 by stfleming

Q: Why do cats make terrible storytellers?
A: They only have one tail!

Explanation: A tale is a story. If you are a teller of tales you are a storyteller.

A tail is the part of of an animal that located at its rear end. Most animals, such as cats and dogs, have tails.

This joke is funny because it plays with the words tale and tail which sound the same. Tale and tail are homophones because they sound the same but have different meanings and different spellings.

Watch here to understand cats better:

Posted in ELL, ESL, humor, Joke | Tagged animals, cats, dogs, EAL, English, ESL, funny, humor, jokes, Learn, pets, story, tail, tale | 1 Comment

Hat Trick

Posted on May 30, 2020 by stfleming

Q: What did one hat say to the other?
A: You stay here. I’m going on ahead!

Explanation: “To go on ahead” or “to go ahead” means to move forward to do something while leaving the other person behind.

That is different from a hat going on a head, which is when a person puts a hat on his or her head. Hats, of course, go on your head.

This joke is funny because it plays with the word ahead which sounds like a head. I like this one because it is easy to remember. (A hat trick, by the way, is when a player scores three goals in one game, such as hockey.)

If you want to learn to do a magic trick with a hat, try this:

Posted in ELL, ESL, humor, Joke | Tagged Ahead, distance learning, EAL, ELL, English, ESL, funny, Hat, Hat trick, head, humor, joke, learning, Magic, Trick | Leave a comment

Flower Power

Posted on May 23, 2020 by stfleming

Q: What do you call a flower that runs on electricity?
A: A power plant!

Explanation: A power plant is a place where electricity is made. There are many different types of power plants.

A flower is the part of a plant that makes the seeds. Flowers and plants get their energy from the sun using photosynthesis. (Does not make them solar powered? I am not sure.) Plants are important to life on earth because we get oxygen and food from them.

This joke is funny because it plays with the word plant: electric plant and a living plant with flowers.

Here are four projects you can make with a mini solar panel:

Posted in ELL, ESL, humor, Joke | Tagged EAL, electricity, English, ESL, Flower, humor, joke, Language, Plant, Power, science, Solar, vocabulary | Leave a comment

April Showers

Posted on May 16, 2020 by stfleming

Q: Why would you want a chicken-proof umbrella?
A: To use when the weather is fowl!

Explanation: Spring started back on March 19 in the northern hemisphere, while fall began for me here in the southern hemisphere. As the seasons change, I hope all of you are safe and healthy amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The word ‘proof‘ has many meanings. In this joke, chicken-proof means that the chickens cannot get in. This is just like the word waterproof or bulletproof where the water or the bullet cannot enter. Umbrellas, of course, are waterproof so that the water can not go through the umbrella and get you wet. (Normally we do not think about umbrellas as being chicken-proof.)

‘Fowl‘ means a type of bird that includes chickens, turkeys and ducks. ‘Foul,’ which sounds the same as ‘fowl,’ means something that is really unpleasant, like really bad weather.

This joke is funny because it plays with the words foul (really unpleasant) and fowl (birds like chickens, turkeys and ducks). And you would never expect chickens to fall during bad weather, foul weather!

If you want to raise your own chickens (and you have more space than I do) you could watch this

Posted in ELL, ESL, humor, Joke | Tagged chicken, coronavirus, EAL, English, ESL, foul, fowl, Language, umbrella, vocabulary, weather | Leave a comment

Dressed to the Nines

Posted on May 9, 2020 by stfleming

Q: What is the difference between a well-dressed bicyclist and a poorly dressed unicyclist?
A: Attire!

Explanation: Let’s start with some vocabulary:

Well-dressed means to wear nice clothing (it is the opposite of poorly dressed);
A bicyclist is a person who rides a bike;
A unicyclist is a person who rides a unicycle;
A unicycle is like a bicycle (bike) but it only has one wheel.

If you are well-dressed it means you are wearing nice clothing. Clothing and attire can be used as synonyms, but attire is typically used to mean nice clothing, formal clothing.

Attire also sounds the same as a tire. A bike has two wheels, that is, two tires; a unicycle has only one wheel, one tire. Wheel and tire are synonyms. (Well, people use them as synonyms. The tire is really the rubber part of the wheel, the part that touches the street.)

This joke is funny because it plays with the the word attire: well dressed or a tire, a wheel. So if you are well dressed on a bicycle you have both good attire, and a tire (one tire) more than the unicyclist.

If you want to learn to ride a unicycle, take a look at Finnovation:

Posted in ELL, ESL, Joke | Tagged Attire, bicycle, Clothing, EAL, English, ESL, fun, funny, humor, jokes, learning, Unicycle, vocabulary, Wheel | Leave a comment