Tag Archives: dad jokes

Why Did The Ice Cream Cross The Road?

Nationality: Korean
Primary Language: English
Other language(s): Korean
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: LA, California
Performance Date: 3/3/2024

Context:

My informant, DH, is a friend of mine from my freshman year at USC from Los Angeles, California. I talked with DH one night in second semester freshman year about food, as DH loves food. We were going to get some ice cream and he just started spastically laughing whilst getting some ice cream because I said a tame joke about how much he loves sugary foods. I asked him why in the world he was laughing so much and he told me this:

Text:

“My mom and I would have this dumb joke between the three of us, me, my brother, and her. It was this super funny joke about how fat we were because, well, we were, and I mean who could blame us, we love food! Especially ice cream, so she said this to us one day: ‘Why did the ice cream cross the road? 너에게서 멀어지려고!’ Which translates to: ‘To get away from you!’ That was so funny, it stuck forever.”

Analysis:

Now I did look this up and didn’t find anything specific, I mean I did find a Korean dad joke about ice cream crossing the road but the answer was a Korean word which was a play on words but has nothing to do with a specific person or their history as this one did. I find it interesting how they have their own joke about their own history together but it’s still somewhat tied to their Korean language and heritage. It’s a wholesome funny joke that I’ve personally never heard of before but it seems super funny and self aware too, love it.

Newton’s Law “Dad” Joke

Nationality: American
Age: College age
Occupation: Student/Athlete
Residence: Los Angeles
Primary Language: English

KO: Ok uh, do you know what Newton’s Law is?

VG: Yes.

KO: Do you know what cole’s law is?

VG: No.

KO: You don’t know what thinly sliced cabbage is?

 

Background:

Location of riddle: N/A

Location of Performance – Classroom, Los Angeles, CA, late morning

 

Context: This performance was done in a group of 3-4 people after a class in response to a question about potential high school traditions, festivals, jokes, or riddles. KO was the first among the students to offer this joke as performance. KO and I are classmates.

 

Analysis: After my initial recording, KO classified the joke as a “dad joke,” which prompted many others. Therefore, it is apparent that this is a popular genre because everyone was commenting on the tradition of dad jokes and even had a collection of these themselves. I wish I would have questioned KO about how she discovered this joke and the genre of dad jokes as a whole because I am curious to see if these are actually jokes that are sourced from fathers or father figures. My assumption is that this genre rose out of children utilizing these jokes to critique their parental figures and practice rebellion in a relatively harmless way. 

 

Horse Walks Into A Bar “Dad” Joke

Nationality: American
Age: College age senior
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles
Primary Language: English

A: A horse walks into a bar and the bartender, and the bartender says: why the long face?

(group laughs and groans)

 

Background:

Location of joke: N/A

Location of Performance – Classroom, Los Angeles, CA, late morning

 

Context: This performance was done in a group of 3-4 people after a class in response to a question about potential high school traditions, festivals, jokes, or riddles. A was the last to perform his folklore and was particularly inspired after another student performed what was termed as a “dad joke.”

 

Analysis: Prior to A’s performance, another “dad” joke, as the group defined it, was presented. I had my own understanding of Dad jokes prior as just being truly ridiculous in the fact that the punchline was so on the nose…hence the groan. Therefore, my understanding of the effect of “dad” jokes was confirmed through these auditory cues and conversation. It is also interesting to note that dad jokes have no association with father’s at all; possibly this implies that you do not have to be a father in order to be embarrassing – a bad joke will do.