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  • Hey guys, I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on learning English...

  • with jokes! For many advanced speakers, understanding English jokes is the last barrier they have

  • to break through, before they can really master the language, and really capture its full meaning.

  • So today what we're going to do is look at five English jokes, and they're funny because

  • of the double meaning of the words in each joke, okay? So let's look at the first two.

  • First we have, "Why didn't the shark swallow the clownfish?"

  • Now first we have to understand the verb "swallow". This means [makes swallowing sound]. When

  • you eat something, you swallow it, okay? So why didn't the shark swallow the clownfish?

  • Hmm, I'll tell you why.

  • "It tasted funny."

  • No? Okay.

  • To understand this joke, we have to understand the double meaning of "funny". So the setup

  • of the joke is, "Why didn't the shark swallow the clownfish?" So you think of a clownfish.

  • You see the word clown, clown, you think of ha, ha, ha, somebody who makes people laugh.

  • So we have one version of the word "funny", one definition -- ha-ha funny. "Funny" can

  • also mean strange, not normal. Food can taste funny. Imagine that you're eating at a restaurant,

  • you're trying something new, and you go, "Hmm, this doesn't taste right. This tastes funny."

  • It tastes weird.

  • So the reason this joke is funny is because of the double meaning of the word "funny"

  • in it. The clownfish tasted funny. It tasted "ha ha", it's a clownfish, and hmm strange,

  • right? Like food that is not really normal-tasting funny.

  • Next joke: "Why was six afraid of seven?" Why was the number six afraid of the number

  • seven? Don't know why? I'll tell you why. Because...

  • "7 8 9." A little better, right? It's getting better.

  • It's getting better.

  • So you're wondering, "Well, why is this funny?" Why was six, the number six, afraid of the

  • number seven? Because 7 8 9. Let's see if we have any double meanings in the

  • answer to this joke. So we have the number seven, okay? There's no double meaning. We

  • just have the number, the number seven. We have eight. We have the number eight. Okay,

  • we also have the past tense of the verb "eat", so because seven "ate" the number nine. It's

  • funny now, right? Because seven ate the number nine, so six was afraid of number seven, because

  • six doesn't want to get eaten by number seven either.

  • Okay guys, let's look at the next joke.

  • Okay so "Why didn't the skeleton go to the party?"

  • So, again, skeleton, right? Just bones, no skin, just bones. So why didn't the skeleton

  • go to the party? Because...

  • "He had no body to go with." Okay!

  • So here we have to understand a double meaning of which word? Hmm, we actually have two words

  • here. We have "no body" and this obviously also sounds like "nobody", right? So "nobody"

  • and "no body". Again, a skeleton only has bones. It doesn't have any skin. It has no

  • body, right? So it can also mean that he has "nobody". "Nobody", no person can go with

  • him, so he has "no body" to go with, and he has "nobody" to go with. It's pretty good.

  • This is one of my favorites. And if you tell this to your kids they'll like it if they

  • speak English, which they might, okay?

  • Next one, "Why did the teacher wear sunglasses to class?"

  • I'll tell you why: because...

  • her students were so bright."

  • Okay, so we have to understand the double meaning of the word "bright". So you think

  • of the sun and the sun is very bright, right? Now "bright" in English can also mean that

  • a person is very intelligent. So if I say Einstein was a very bright person, it means

  • that Einstein was a very intelligent, a very smart person. So "bright" means like the sun,

  • the sun is bright, it can also mean that somebody is very intelligent. So in this joke, the

  • teacher wore sunglasses, because her students were so "bright", but really it means intelligent,

  • okay? Double meaning, I really like this one, too.

  • All right, let's look at the last joke. Why did the pregnant lady start yelling:

  • "I'm, didn't, can't"? Any guess?

  • Okay, let me tell you why. Because...

  • she was having contractions." Okay, so to understand

  • this joke, you have to understand the double meaning of "contractions".

  • Contractions are the pains that a woman feels when she's about to have a baby many, many

  • hours before she starts to have the baby, the pain inside the stomach from the back,

  • anyway. Ask a girl; ask anyone who's had a baby. They can tell you the feeling of contractions.

  • Also the double meaning of "contractions" is the grammatical contractions of "I'm, didn't,

  • can't." So "I'm" is the contracted form of "I am". "Didn't" is the contracted form of

  • "did not", and "can't", "cannot", okay?

  • This joke can honestly work with any contracted verbs. So you can say "Why did the pregnant

  • lady start yelling 'shouldn't, wouldn't, couldn't'?" It can be anything, okay? And the joke, the

  • ending is always the same, because she was having contractions.

  • Now, remember, I didn't say these were good jokes. I didn't say they were funny jokes.

  • To me they're funny because I'm an English teacher, and I like English wordplay jokes

  • like these. If you understood these jokes, you are all the better for it, and I really,

  • really recommend that you use these at a party if you want no friends.

  • Okay guys, if you want to test your understanding of this knowledge, if you want to test if

  • you remember the ending of these jokes, and if you want to make the kids in your family

  • laugh, you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com . Good luck and take care.

  • Learn English for free www.engvid.com

Hey guys, I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on learning English...

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A2 初級

用笑話學英文 (Learn English with 5 Jokes)

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