You are absolutely fluent in English if you can understand these

- Hello, lovely students

and welcome back to English with Lucy.

I've got a really fun lesson for you today

because we're going to delve

or dive into the world of jokes.

This is a really important part of British culture.

It's how we connect and follow social cues.

We're going to talk about play on words, puns,

all that good stuff.

Now, I know that jokes tend to be silly, but trust me,

this is actually quite serious business

because understanding jokes and nuance

is a really important aspect

of the advanced levels of fluency.

Familiarising yourself with multiple meanings

of words is important at any level,

so practising with the flexibility of words

and sentences is a great way to put your brain to work

and increase your comprehension skills.

Something that might help you even further

is that I have created a free PDF for today's lesson.

It contains everything that we're going to cover today,

plus a quiz so you can test your understanding.

If you'd like to download that, all you have to do is click

on the link in the description box,

you enter your name and your email address.

You sign up to my mailing list

and the PDF will arrive directly

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It's a free service and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Right, let's get started with the lesson.

So I think the most common form of wordplay is the pun

and there is so much pun-related content circulating

around the internet.

Now, they're often referred to as dad jokes

and I personally love them.

A pun uses the multiple meanings of a term

or similar sounding words for an intended humorous effect

and puns often rely on homophones, homographs or homonyms.

"But what are homophones, homographs and homonyms?"

I hear you ask from your tiny little screen.

Homophones are words that have the same pronunciation

but different meanings, origins or spellings.

They can cause confusion

in spoken language because they sound identical.

So context is extremely important.

Here are some examples.

We have pair, a set of two, and pear,

a type of fruit.

We have flour, the ingredient for baking cakes,

and flower, a blooming plant.

Break, to separate into pieces

and brake, a device for slowing a vehicle.

Now, homographs have the same spelling

but different meanings

and they may have different pronunciations.

For example, bow, to bend at the waist,

and bow, a decorative knot.

Tear, to rip something

and tear, a drop of liquid from the eye.

We also have lead, a type of metal,

and lead, to guide or direct.

So as you can see, they can cause confusion in writing

because of their identical spelling.

And finally, we have homonyms,

which are words that have the same spelling

and pronunciation, but different meanings.

Homonyms can be considered a combination

of homophones and homographs

and thus, cause confusion in both speaking and writing.

So much fun.

Here are some examples.

We have bark, the outer covering of a tree,

and bark, (dog barking)

the sounded dog makes.

Bank, a financial institution

and bank, the side of a river.

Bat, a flying mammal, and bat, a piece of sports equipment.

Okay, now that we have all

of that background info out of the way,

let's see how you do with some of these play on words.

If you don't understand them, that's okay.

Let's just see how you do.

Okay, firstly, did you hear

about the guy whose whole left side was cut off?

He's all right now. (Lucy chuckling)

Do you get it?

Do you get why it's funny?

Okay, jokes are never as funny when you have to explain them

but that's why we're here, right?

And that was a total dad joke.

This absolutely hilarious pun plays

on the homophones alright, and all right.

The joke is that the man who had his left side cut off

would be in a terrible state, but the punchline reveals

that he is alright, meaning he's doing well.

All right also means only the right side,

no left because he's had his left side removed.

He consists only of his right side, so he is all right.

Wow, that is so unfunny now that I've explained it.

Okay, another one.

Did you hear about the bicycle

that couldn't stand on its own?

Yeah, it was too tired.

Okay, this is a certified dad joke right here.

Here we have the homophones too tired and two-tired.

We need to understand that too tired means exhausted

while two-tired means having two wheels or two tyres,

the rubber bit on the wheels.

The bike couldn't stand on its own

because something with two tyres will obviously fall over

and something that is very, very tired will also fall over.

So doubly funny, hilarious.

Editors, please can you insert a laugh track.

(people laughing)

Thank you. (Lucy chuckling)

Okay, next.

Love this one.

Why are postmen so unhappy all the time?

Because they're given the sack every morning.

(Lucy chuckling)

My husband's in the background

and he actually laughed a little bit.

It was like a (Lucy snorting).

Do you ever do that when you see a funny video

on your phone and you don't laugh, you just go.

(Lucy snorting)

(Lucy chuckling)

Now we can see how homonyms can also be used to make puns.

Here we're playing with the double meaning

of the phrase give the sack or given the sack.

In this context, to be given the sack means to be fired

or dismissed from a job, but the joke

is that the postmen are given the sack every morning

because they are provided with a bag

or a big sack to carry the post in.

(Lucy clapping)

Okay, next one.

I love this one.

My mum tried to make a joke about the TV

but it wasn't remotely funny.

(Lucy chuckling)

Okay, I guess rather than being a dad joke, this one's more

of a mum joke, but here we're using the double meaning

of the word remote.

In this context, adding -ly or -ly

to remote makes the adverb remotely,

which means not at all.

If something is not remotely funny, it's not at all funny.

However, remote is also a shortened informal way

to say remote control.

This, the device used to change channels on a TV.

That is pure comedic gold if you ask me.

Not remotely funny.

(Lucy chuckling)

She tried to make a joke about the TV,

but it wasn't remotely funny.

Maybe I should stop teaching and go into comedy.

Are you ready for our final and most difficult one?

Our most difficult dad joke, it's a big one.

There is a fine line between a numerator and a denominator.

It's okay if you didn't get that.

Only a fraction will understand.

(Lucy chuckling)

Okay, this is actually a two for one, two pun alert,

double pun alert.

We have two puns in this joke.

First, in mathematics,

a fraction is a numerical quantity that represents a part

of a whole expressed as a numerator over a denominator.

Part of the joke is that there is a fine line which refers

to the horizontal line that separates them in a fraction

but a fine line also means a very small difference.

For example, there's a very fine line

between confidence and arrogance.

Well, here we're saying there's a fine line

between a numerator and a denominator

because they're part of a fraction.

The second part of the joke

is that the word fraction means a small number

outside of its mathematical meaning.

Only a fraction will understand.

Only a small number of people will understand.

Okay, I know these are pretty challenging

but learning English should be enjoyable

so don't forget to download today's PDFs.

We have lots more examples in there

and we have a quiz to test your understanding.

The link is in the description box.

Also, you can connect with me on my social media.

I've got my Instagram and my Facebook.

I've also got my website where we've got lots more lessons

and an interactive pronunciation tool where you can click

on phonemes and hear me pronounce them,

and you can also check out all of my courses.

We have now released our B1 programme, our B2 programme

and our C1 programme.

They're all available for enrollment now.

They are amazing if I do say so myself.

I'm incredibly proud of them and incredibly excited

for you to take them and experience them.

I will see you soon in another lesson.

(Lucy kissing)

(lively music)