“So there were these four brothers, and they came to this cliff, and there was a genie. And this genie said, I can turn you into anything you want to be, so the first brother said, I want to be a cow so I can work really hard. So the genie turned him into a cow. The second brother said, I want to be a bird so I can be free. So the genie turned him into a bird. The third brother said, I want to be small and hide and be secure, so he became a rat. Now, the fourth brother had always been jealous of the other three, so he said, I want to be all three. So the genie turned him into a sausage. Because in Korean, cow is so, bird is se, and rat is ji, so-se-ji, sausage.”

My informant learned this joke from another Korean-American friend. Only a Korean-American (or someone who knew both Korean and English) would understand this joke without needing to have it explained to them, since the joke is told in English, but the punchline is delivered in Korean. The joke therefore strengthens Korean-American group identity.