Explain the Joke

Finally Found

Posted on August 8, 2020 by stfleming

Q: Why do you always find something in the last place you look?
A: Because when you find it, you stop looking!

Explanation: Perhaps this is more of a logic puzzle than a joke–but it is true! Often times we search long and hard for a missing thing and then find it in the last place we look. Is there a psychological reason it took us so long to find something? I do not know the answer to that. I do know that this joke makes me laugh.

This joke is funny because it creates an expectation for an answer that relates to the way we think. The joke does not fulfill the expectation but gives us a bit of logic. Who would keep searching for something after you have found it? Not me.

Do you know the books Where’s Waldo? If you want to try looking for Waldo, you can click on the this link, or watch this video:

Posted in ELL, ESL, humor, Joke | Tagged EAL, English, ESL, find, funny, humor, joke, laugh, logic, Looking, psychology, puzzle, search, Where's Waldo | Leave a comment

Whether Balloon?

Posted on August 1, 2020 by stfleming

Q: What music frightens balloons?
A: Pop music!

Explanation: When balloons explode, we say they pop. If you stick a pin in a balloon, it pops. If balloons had feelings, I am pretty sure that they would be scared of things that make the pop.

‘Pop’ is also a type of music, originally from the term ‘popular music.’ Pop music now refers to music that is commercial (sells a lot), usually upbeat, and uses a verse/chorus format. Yea, that’s probably too much information. (By the way, pop can also mean father, and soda.)

This joke is funny because it plays with the word pop–both a type of music and an action that end the life of a balloon. There is a lot of famous pop music. Here is one of the pop music examples from the list (#26) in the previous links:

Posted in ELL, ESL, humor, Joke | Tagged balloon, EAL, English, ESL, explode, feelings, funny, humor, joke, pop, pop music, scared | Leave a comment

Run the Good Race

Posted on July 25, 2020 by stfleming

Q: What race is never run?
A: A swimming race!

Explanation: Thank you to a swimming friend who sent me this joke.

This explanation will be short, maybe abut 50 meters, the length of an olympic swimming pool. Yes, I know, the Olympics did not start this past week because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I hope you are staying healthy!

If you race someone in a pool, a swimming race, you are not running. You are swimming. Of course this joke could have other answers such as a car race, a spelling race, … you get the idea.

This joke is funny because the idea of a race that is never run makes people think of running.

Here are the top ten swimming races from the 2016 Rio Olympics (according to the author of this video):

Posted in ELL, ESL, humor, Joke | Tagged distance learning, EAL, English, ESL, funny, healthy, humor, joke, learning, olympics, running, sports, swimming | Leave a comment

Sour Milk

Posted on July 18, 2020 by stfleming

Q: What do you call a mean cow?
A: Moo-dy!

Explanation: Wow, there are a lot of jokes about cows!

As you may know, cows say “moo.” If you don’t believe me you can listen to Old McDonald, “with a moo-moo here and a moo- moo there….”

Moody is a word that means a person who changes his or her mood a lot. If someone were happy and then gets mad really fast, you might say that the person is moody. You could use moody for someone who changes from nice to mean and back to nice again.

This joke is funny because it plays with the “moo” in moody and the voice of a cow.

Here is something else that is moody: The Moody Blues singing Knights in White Satin

Posted in ELL, ESL, humor, Joke | Tagged cow, EAL, English, ESL, funny, humor, joke, learning, moo, moody, moody blues, old mcdonald | Leave a comment

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