Top 5 Jokes in English: Can YOU Understand Them?

Can you understand jokes and humor in English?

These are one of the hardest things to master.

So if you can understand these jokes,  you're definitely fluent in English.

And in this lesson, we're going  to review the most popular jokes.

Welcome back to JForrest English.

Of course.

I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started.

This lesson is all about jokes, which is, of  course, something humorous to make you laugh.

Another name for a joke is a pun,  a word play, or a play on words.

All three of these are the same, and  they're a joke about the English language,  

about how words can sound the  same but have different meanings.

And that makes it humorous.

It makes it a joke.

And maybe you've heard of a dad joke.

This is also a pun, and it's a very typical  stereotypical joke, an obvious joke that almost  

makes you roll your eyes when you hear it,  something that your dad might share with you.

So here's our first joke.

Are you ready to laugh?

Did you hear about the cheese factory explosion?

There was nothing left but debris.

Get it?

Do you get it?

Now when I say get it, that  means do you understand?

Do you understand why this is funny?

Do you know what Brie is?

Brie is a specific type of cheese.

It's a soft cheese and it's delicious.

Now what about debris?

Do you know what debris is?

This is a noun, and debris represents  broken or small pieces of something whole.

So let's take an example.

There was a storm, a really bad storm.

So you have something whole, maybe a barn.

But after the storm, that whole barn is in  tiny pieces, and those pieces are everywhere.

Those pieces are debris.

For example, there was a lot  of debris after the storm.

And notice my pronunciation compared to the  spelling debris E Do you notice that debris?

Brie sounds exactly like Brie cheese.

That's part of the joke.

We'll come back to that in a second.

So let's review our joke again.

Did you hear about the cheese factory explosion?

There was a lot of debris.

So explosion.

What happens after an explosion?

There's debris.

But this is at a cheese factory.

And remember, Brie is a a type of cheese.

So you can imagine there's tiny bits  of Brie, Brie cheese everywhere.

So the Brie cheese is the debris.

So now you understand this joke and  you can share it with your friends.

Our next joke Why did the Scarecrow win an award?

Because he was outstanding in his field.

Get it?

Do you get the joke?

First you need to know what a scarecrow is.

A scarecrow is a model of a person that you put  in a field, and its purpose is to scare birds.

A crow is a type of bird, so  you want to scare the birds.

Scare the crows away from the  field so they don't eat the crops.

Now what does a scarecrow do?

It stands in a field.

So notice this part from our joke.

Because he was outstanding in his  field, he was outstanding in his field.

Now native speakers will use  the word out to say not at home,  

and we often use out plus  gerund verb being the activity.

For example, my dad's out, my dad's  not at home, My dad's out shopping.

It's explaining the activity  that he's doing away from home.

My dad's out shopping.

So technically you could say the  scarecrow was out, not at home.

And what was he doing?

The scarecrow was outstanding in his field.

Are you with me so far?

But there's an expression to  be outstanding in one's field.

This is an expression that means that you're  exceptionally good at your occupation.

My occupation is teaching  English as a second language.

So if you think I'm doing an amazing job, you can  say, Jennifer, you're outstanding in your field.

The field being teaching, teaching English.

Jennifer, you're outstanding in your field.

Put that in the comments.

If you think that's true, if you  if you want to like this video,  

of course press that like button too and put  Jennifer, you're outstanding in your field.

But let's say that I live on a farm and  there is a big field on my property.

Technically you could say  Jennifer's out not at home.

Jennifer's out standing in her field.

So this is literally what I'm doing.

So now you know why that scarecrow won an award?

Because he was outstanding in his field.

Get it?

Get it?

Yes, you do.

Our next joke.

I used to be a Baker because I knead a dough.

Get it?

Do you get the joke?

When you knead dough, you press dough,  which is a mixture of flour, water and eggs.

You press dough repeatedly  and firmly with your hands.

And of course, a Baker is someone  who bakes bread, cookies, cakes,  

and other desserts as their occupation.

So a Baker of course needs dough  every single day as part of their job.

Now notice the pronunciation of need.

What does it sound like the verb to need?

And did you know that dough is  a slang expression for money?

So if you said I need some  dough, it means you need money.

The Baker kneaded dough.

This is literally what the Baker did.

The Baker kneaded dough.

The Baker needed money.

So now you understand why I used to be a Baker.

Because I needed dough.

Get it?

Now you do our next joke.

Let's see if you can get this one.

I only know 25 letters of the alphabet.

I don't know why get it.

Do you get the joke?

I like this one actually.

How many letters are there  in the English alphabet?

Of course there are 26 letters.

The person in this joke knows 25 letters,  

so it means that they don't know  one letter of the English alphabet.

The one letter that they  don't know is the letter Y.

This explains the I don't  know why part of the joke,  

but of course the letter Y  sounds like the question why?

Why?

It's exactly the same pronunciation.

So said another way, I don't know why  I only know 25 letters of the alphabet.

So now you know joke #4.

This is probably a dad joke.

I don't know if it was very funny.

It probably made you roll your eyes a little bit.

But I like this joke.

I like dad jokes.

And our final joke, This is the  most popular joke in English.

Let's see if you know it.

What did one plate say to the other?

Dinner's on me tonight.

Get it?

This is a good joke.

You have to share this with your  friends after you understand the joke.

So let me explain it to you.

Of course you know what a plate is.

And in our joke, we have one  plate saying to another plate.

Dinner's on me tonight.

Now, this is a joke because there's a  literal meaning and a figurative meaning.

So the literal meaning You eat dinner on a plate.

So of course dinner is on the plate tonight  because that's where you eat dinner.

But let's talk about the figurative meaning.

Let's say I'm out for dinner  at a restaurant with my friends  

and towards the end of the meal when the  bill comes, I say dinner's on me tonight.

That means I'm paying for dinner tonight.

So you definitely want to go out for dinner with  me because I always say dinner's on me tonight.

So that's why this is a funny joke,  because there are two separate meanings.

There's the literal meaning you eat dinner on  a plate and there's a figurative meaning where  

when you say dinner's on me tonight,  it means you're paying for dinner.

Now you don't only have to use this expression  with meals, you can use it with other things.

For example, the movies on me tonight.

I'm paying for the movie The movies on Me Tonight.

You can get the next One South.

Now you have 5 jokes that you can share  with your friends to make them laugh,  

cheer them up, and to show off  your English language skills.

So if you could only share one of these jokes  with your friends, which one would you share?

Which one is your favorite?

Share your favorite one in the comments and  also if you want me to make more lessons just  

like this, where we review jokes because there  are hundreds of puns, hundreds of dad jokes  

in English, put dad jokes, put dad jokes in the  comments and I'll keep explaining English jokes.

And if this video made you  laugh, make sure you like it,  

share it with your friends and subscribe so  you're notified every time I post a new lesson.

And you can get this free speaking  guide where I share 6 tips on how  

to speak English fluently and confidently.

You can click here to download it or  look for the link in the description.

And you can keep improving your English  listening skills with this lesson right now.