Age: 19

Date: 02/22/2025

Language: English

Nationality: Chinese American

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States

Text:

“Why don’t skeletons fight each other? Because they don’t have the guts!”

Context:

I first heard this joke at a Halloween party when I was a kid. One of my classmates, dressed as a vampire, was going around telling halloween themed jokes to literally anyone who would listen. When he got to me, I remember laughing, partly because I actually found it funny and partly because he delivered it with such confidence, like it was the greatest joke ever told. Later that night, I repeated it to my parents, and they laughed too (probably more at my enthusiasm than the joke itself). From that point on, it became my go-to Halloween joke I’d tell it every year to my friends, and even now, I still think of it whenever October rolls around.

Analysis:

This joke relies on a classic pun, playing with the phrase “having the guts,” which means both possessing courage and literally having internal organs. It’s simple, clever, and lighthearted, qualities that make it a great joke for kids. Puns like this often appear in children’s humor because they introduce wordplay in a way that’s easy to understand and repeat.

Beyond just being a fun Halloween joke, it also reflects the way humor can be tied to specific cultural moments. Skeletons are a common symbol of both horror and comedy, appearing in everything from spooky stories to animated films. The joke takes something that might otherwise be creepy—a skeleton—and makes it silly and harmless, showing how humor can reframe fear. This is a common pattern in folklore and storytelling: turning the eerie into the amusing as a way to make the unknown feel less intimidating. The fact that jokes like this persist over time, especially around Halloween, shows how humor can become part of seasonal traditions, passed down from one generation to the next.