Text: A says “A French foreign exchange student comes to stay with a family in America. He doesn’t know any English so the Dad takes him around to teach him. He first takes him to the airport and points to the planes leaving and says “take off”, the student repeats “take off” back to him. The Dad the next day takes him to the zoo and shows him a zebra and tells him” zebra”, the exchange student responds “zebra”. Next the  Dad takes him to the grocery store and sees a baby crying then points to the baby and says “baby”, the exchange student responds “baby”. Then when they get home the mom asks the student what English he has learned and he responds “take off zebra baby”.”

Context: This joke was told to me by my girlfriend A. She told me that this joke is a favorite of her fathers. This joke to A  is a classic “dad joke” that her dad would tell her routinely.

Analysis: In my interpretation this joke most likely originates from the 1950’s-60’s as post WWII the concept of exchange students came into effect. Additionally I believe it stems from this time as post WWII the US was heavily responsible for helping rebuild France, thus why a French exchange student would want to come to America.