Category Archives: Humor

Joke – animal pun

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: Colorado
Performance Date: 2/20/23
Primary Language: English

Text:

“Why can’t a leopard hide?”

            “He’s always spotted.”

Context:

DT is an 18 year old who was born and raised in Southern California. He is currently attending Colorado State University, Fort Collins. He loves jokes almost as much as he loves animals. He told me this joke over the phone when I asked about what his favorite jokes were. He informed me that he originally heard this joke from one of his professors in an animal biology class.

Analysis:

This joke is interesting in a few ways. First, this joke uses homophones as its main tool. The use of the word “spotted” refers to two different meanings, both of which are engaged in the joke. Leopards are covered in small spots, but this word also refers to being seen because the leopard can’t hide. This joke is essentially a pun. It’s also interesting to note the complete falsity of the joke. It claims that leopards cannot hide well because of their spots, when in reality, their spotted nature helps them blend in tremendously well with their natural environment. Understanding this adds another layer of humor to the joke because it adds to the silliness. This joke was told in an academic setting in an animal biology class where many hearing it would probably understand the humorous inaccuracies, where if told to a person outside of this community, they might believe this to be an accurate joke.

Inevitable Adam & Eve

Nationality: Lebanese
Age: 47
Occupation: Mother
Residence: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Performance Date: February 21st, 2023
Primary Language: Arabic
Language: English

Original:

ادم سأل حوا: بتحبيني يا مرا

جاوبته حوا: ليش في غيرك يا خرا

Transliteration: 

Adam Sa’al Howaa’: Bit’hebeene ya mara?

Jawabat Howaa’: Laysh fi ghayrak ya khara?

Translation: 

“Adam asked Eve: Do you love me, woman?”

“Eve answered: Why? Is there anyone besides you, stupid?”

The informant is one of my family members who was raised in Lebanon by parents who spent the entirety of their lives there and gained an understanding of jokes that are told within households and gatherings.

Context:

The informant described this joke as “A very old joke told traditionally in men gathering as it’s too rude to be said in front of women out of respect” conveying that this was usually told in the public eye, yet not in front of women as it is seen as a ‘male joke’. She also stated that “They use this type of short funny jokes when men gather and drink Arak, the traditional Lebanese alcoholic drink” It is usually said by men that are older in age when choosing to discuss topics besides work and family as that was seen as “bad territory” when around family.

Analysis:

This type of male joke in Lebanese culture is most likely said in these environments to state dominance, however, in this instance, the joke refers to ‘Adam’ being the joke, therefore they are laughing at their own gender conveying that they feel safe in the space that they are in together and have developed a close bond. It is because of the irony in the story as the Christian religion encapsulates a large majority of the Lebanese population, therefore, using this type of humour allows the men to feel more connected culturally and see each other as a family. The story of Adam and Eve is most likely brought up to highlight the intimacy that a family might have with one another. However, this may be an allusion to arranged marriages as Lebanon and other arab countries have been known to use their children as transactions between businesses therefore the ‘inevitable relationship’ of Adam and Eve might have alluded to their forced marriages.

Pepito Jokes

Performance Date: 2/22/23
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish
  1. “Pepito le pregunta a su maestra, ‘Maestra me castigaria usted  por algo que no hice’. La maestra le dice, ‘No pepito, por supuesto que no’. Pepito le responde, ‘Que bueno porque no hice la tarea’”.

2. “Pepito encuentra a su hermana haciendo el amor con su novio y les pregunta, ‘Que estan haciendo’ y el novio le contesta, ‘La estoy vacunando’y Pepito dice ‘Oye pero estara bien enferma porque ayer vino un amigo tuyo y la vacuno dos veces. Lo unico que parece es que ayer la jeringa era mas grande porque grito mas’”

Translated to English:

  1. “Pepito asks his teacher, ‘Teacher, would you punish me for something I didn’t do?’ The teacher tells him, ‘No Pepito, of course not’. Pepito responds, “That’s good because I didn’t do my homework.”

2. “Pepito finds his sister making love to her boyfriend and asks them, ‘What are you doing’ and the boyfriend answers, ‘I’m vaccinating her’ and Pepito says ‘Hey, but she must be very sick because yesterday a friend of yours came and vaccinated her twice. The only thing that seems weird is that yesterday the syringe was bigger because she screamed more.’”

The informant stated that Pepito is a mischievous little boy who in every joke, he says something funny. The informant says they were similar to knock-knock jokes because there is a structure that doesn’t change with the joke, but the content of the joke varies. Pepito’s jokes start with him talking to another person, a lot of times a parent or teacher, then Pepito asks a question, the person responds and finally, Pepito delivers the punch line. Most of the jokes are imprudent or have a double meaning, sometimes dirty jokes. The informant mentioned she would read these jokes in Mexico as well because, in certain calendars in Mexico, you would rip off the top of the current date and on it, there would be an interesting fact, jokes, or tongue twisters. She learned the jokes through friends at school as well. 

The Pepito jokes seem to be common for children to know. They were popular in Mexico and seem to be a bit different from knock-knock jokes although being similar. Yes, they maintain a structure, but knock-knock jokes tend to not be funny and just quip you throw whenever you learn a new one. Pepito jokes on the other hand seem to be something where the more one collects, the better. Additionally, the dirtier the joke, the funnier it was which alludes to the feeling kids have transitioned into puberty and how they feel having knowledge about dirtier subjects.

Gesture:

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: Feb 16th, 2023
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Context: The interviewee, D, is 19 years old and they were born and raised in Mexico. They told me that when they were a kid, they accidentally made this gesture while trying to get their family dog to sit down. When D’s dad saw what they were doing, he asked them why they were cussing out the dog. D obviously did not know what the gesture meant, so their dad explained it to them. That’s how D found out that this gesture was basically a way of saying “F*** you” to someone.

Analysis: There are a lot of gestures that mean very different things depending on where you are in the world and so it’s important to keep that in mind, especially if you decide to travel internationally. When I moved to Canada from China, there were a lot of words and gestures that I didn’t know the hidden meaning of. I never knew this gesture was a way to cuss at people until D told me. However, I was unable to find the origins of this hand gesture because it’s rather hard to describe what I’m looking for online. I actually make this hand gesture quite often, but only towards myself and not other people thankfully as it’s how I check my nails and cuticles to see if they need fixing.

Joke/Riddle:How do you say pollo in English? And how do you say repollo in English?

Context: D also introduced me to this Spanish joke that they had learned from her childhood friends. D explained that “pollo” is chicken in Spanish, and “repollo” is cabbage in Spanish, so the joke is that people would answer chicken for the first question, and then rechicken for the second question. They told me that the joke would only make sense to people who were bilingual in both English and Spanish since it plays off of the similarities of both Spanish words and their English translations.

Analysis: After D explained the joke to me, I found it quite funny even though they thought it was silly since it was just a stupid joke they played on each other in grade school. It’s interesting how language works with jokes because they sometimes don’t work when translated. This actually reminded me of a joke that I heard from a family friend of mine that only bilingual people who speak both Mandarin and English would understand. You put up four fingers and ask the person what word you are putting up and they will usually respond with “four”. Then you bend your four fingers down and ask them again what word you are putting up and they usually get stumped, so you tell them that it’s “won-der-ful” putting emphasis on the “won” and pronouncing the “ful” similar to four. This is because the “won” sounds a lot like the mandarin word for bend is “弯”, so together it’s roughly translated to “bent four”.