Armenian Nose Joke

Age: 28
Residence: Fresno
Primary Language: English

Why do Armenian’s have big noses? 

Because the air is free!

Context: [informant] I first heard this from my cousin when I was a kid. I really though she was going to give a reason why our people have big noses but it was joke about them being cheap. I kind of took it personal even though she was Armenian too, but later I heard the same exact  joke about Jews and thought it was funny.

Thoughts: This is a prime example of multiplicity and variation. The stereotypes here are that Armenian and Jews both have big noses and tend to be money-centric cultures, so it makes sense the same joke can be applied to either culture. Having “big” noses implies they use it sniff up as much free air as possible.