Tag Archives: Joke

Irish Joke

Text Transcribed from Informant

“Alright, there’s a mother and a daughter, and the daughter goes running to her mother going ‘Mom, mom, there’s some strange man at the door! And her mother goes ‘does he have a bill?’ and the daughter goes (informant chuckles) No, he’s just got a regular nose.”

Context

My informant claims that he heard this particular Irish joke from his grandmother when she was babysitting him as a young boy. My informant says that at the time he didn’t entirely understand it, because he didn’t realize that a duck’s nasal passages was referred to as a “bill.” However, his grandmother later told him the joke again when he was older, and he was able to understand it then. He says that this experience made him remember the joke, and that he sometimes tells it as small get-togethers with friends or at parties.

My Analysis

It’s somewhat strange to try and give an analysis to a simple joke – it sorts of feels like “over explaining” the joke and hence stripping the joke of its humor. But I found this to be rather funny. I thought my informant’s personal anecdote of hearing the joke for the first time and not knowing what a “bill” was almost funnier than the original text itself, but that’s most likely due to the personal connection I have with the informant. Overall though, it does remind me of other short Irish jokes I’ve heard told.

I Like your Cut-G

Informant: The informant is my sibling, a Mexican American boy who is 14 years old and currently an 8th grader at a charter school in Los Angeles California. 

Context: The following transcript is a conversation between him and me and his explanation of why he got hit on his head that day at school. I will be referring to him as J in the following transcript of our conversation. 

Transcript: 

Me: Can you explain what exactly was done to you today?

J: Today I got hit on the back of my head by one of my friends. He said he did it because I got a new haircut and he liked it. This is usually done to someone who gets a new haircut at school. What happens is that when someone has a new haircut they get hit in the back of the head. The person who hits the person with the new haircut, yells: “I like your Cut-G! I think it’s sort of like meaning that they like your new haircut, but instead of coming upfront and telling each other, we hit each other. Most of this is done with only the guys because the girls don’t hit each other, nor do they come up to us guys to hit us. There are also even videos on Youtube, and I think it even became a trend on TikTok reactions or something. Like even there are sounds for this.

Analysis: I really didn’t find this meme to be all that interesting, but upon analyzing it a bit more, I noticed that this meme stems from stereotyping of boys/men. Men/boys are always taught to never really reveal much of their feeling or talk too much because “that not what men do.” This meme demonstrates how instead of kids and male adults telling each other that they like their haircut, there is this “touch love idea” or more of bro code that is being made when they out of a sudden hit their heads. There is this idea that because it is tough that it is cool.

Puerto Rican Fish Pun

GM is a college student studying communications. She is Puerto Rican and grew up in Miami. Both of her parents lived in Puerto Rico before moving to the United States and passed on Puerto Rican culture to her and her siblings.

Context: This joke was told over the dining room table while eating lunch. GM said when she was younger her grandmother told her this joke.

Transcript:

GM: This is one my family tells also:

Fish 1: ¿Qué hace tu papá para el trabajo?

Fish 2: Nada

GM: So “nada” in Spanish means nothing but it also means swim. I’m not sure if other Islands or Latin countries use “nada” for swim because it depends, but in Puerto Rico you can honestly just tell by the context of the sentence or conversation. That’s what makes it so funny; The second fish’s answer could go either way.

Thoughts/Analysis: This pun uses double meaning in words and is largely a children’s joke. Different Latin cultures use different words for things, and seeing as jokes are a significant part of cultural life and this is one example of its significance in Puerto Rican life. It is similar to English/American puns, in which homonyms are used.

Puerto Rican Sock Pun

GM is a college student studying communications. She is Puerto Rican and grew up in Miami. Both of her parents lived in Puerto Rico before moving to the United States and passed on Puerto Rican culture to her and her siblings.

Context: This joke was told over the dining room table while eating lunch. The informants family tells this one.

Transcript:

GM: There are so many Puerto Rican jokes.

Collector: Tell me one.

GM: There was one we [her and her family] were saying on FaceTime the other day. My grandma tells this one.

GM:
There is this Puerto Rican guy who goes into a store, and he is trying to talk to his lady and get some clothes. He doesn’t speak english. so he’s like
¿Tienes cosas que pones debajo de los zapatos?
Lady: “Huh?”
So they keep going back and forth and then the lady is like “socks?”
Hombre: “ah, eso si ques!”
Lady: “God damn it! if you could spell it this whole time, why didn’t you do it the first time?”

Translation:

There is this Puerto Rican guy who goes into a store, and he is trying to talk to his lady and get some clothes. He doesn’t speak english. so he’s like
Do you have those things you put under your shoes?
Lady: “Huh?”
So they keep going back and forth and then the lady is like, “socks?”
Hombre: “Oh yes those!”
Lady: “God damn it! if you could spell it this whole time, why didn’t you do it the first time?”

GM: I love this joke but it only works in Spanish, because “eso si ques” sounds a lot like s-o-c-k-s. I love being bilingual because I am included in this type of joke.

Thoughts/analysis: This joke is one of many that blends two languages to make a fun pun. When GM recited the joke I genuinely thought it was funny because I can understand both English and Spanish. If someone who did not understand any Spanish was told this joke, they likely would not understand it because “s-o-c-k-s” would have been the first thing they heard. Seeing as joking is a huge part of cultural life, this joke and other Spanglish puns show how linguisticly diverse a culture is.

Corny Pickup Line Joke

Main Piece: Pickup Line Joke

“Are you Australian? Because I want to didgeridoo you.”

Background Information:

The origin of these jokes are not very well known, but they are a very well known genre where M grew up in the United States. M heard this joke while growing up in middle school and also again in high school.

Context of the Performance:

These jokes were told ironically and are very rarely, if ever, told unironically. These were most commonly heard in middle school and the beginning of high school because the jokes are very simplistic. These would commonly be told in a group of friends.

My Thoughts:

These jokes fall into a genre that I have heard before when I was younger and in middle school. They are all very short and to the point and when I was growing up it was relatively common to hear these jokes when talking with friends about jokes and also in passing.