Tag Archives: Joke

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.

Odds are good

Main Piece: The odds are good but the goods are odd

“Do you think I can find a boyfriend in Alaska?”

“The odds are good but the goods are odd!”

Background Information:

This is a joke that is fairly common in Alaska because there are more men that live in Alaska than there are women.

Context of the Performance:

To understand this joke, you have to understand that there are more men who live in Alaska than women. There is also a stereotype that you have to be somewhat odd to live in Alaska and that is why it is funny.

My Thoughts:

I first heard about this joke when I first worked in Alaska in 2016 and I thought it was funny. My dad was also familiar with this joke because he used to live and work in Alaska when he was younger. I believe that this is a great oral performance because you have to be aware of the population dynamics in Alaska to understand the joke.

Not good, but slow

Main Piece: Not good, but slow

“I may not be good, but I am slow”

Background Information:

When my dad was younger and was working construction in Alaska, one of his friends who worked the same job grew up in the Soviet Union where everybody was provided a job. Because of this, it did not matter how hard you worked on the job because the job was guaranteed. Because of this, if someone was a hard worker they would make everybody else look bad because you did not need to work hard to keep a job.

Context of the Performance:

This was a joke with some truth that you would say to your employer in the Soviet Union, according to my dad’s friend, because hard workers were not well liked due to the fact that they would make others look bad.

My Thoughts:

Without the context for this joke, it is not understandable. However, once the context is filled in it becomes understandable and funny. I find it very interesting that this mentality was apparently fairly common within the Soviet Union.