Dad joke
A dad joke is a short joke, typically a pun, presented as a one-liner or a question and answer, but not a narrative.[1] Generally inoffensive, dad jokes are stereotypically told with sincere humorous intent, or to intentionally provoke a negative reaction to their overly-simplistic humor.
| Type of joke | Pun |
|---|---|
| Language(s) | English |
Many dad jokes may be considered anti-jokes, deriving humor from an intentionally not funny punchline.[2]
A common type of dad joke goes as follows: A child will say to the father, "I'm hungry," to which the father will reply, "Hi, Hungry, I'm Dad."[3]
While the exact origin of the term dad joke is unknown, a writer for the Gettysburg Times wrote an impassioned defence of the genre in June 1987 under the headline "Don't ban the 'Dad' jokes; preserve and revere them".[4] The term "dad jokes" received mentions in the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother in 2008[5] and the Australian quiz show Spicks and Specks in 2009.[6] In September 2019, Merriam-Webster added the phrase "dad joke" to the dictionary.[7]
Examples
- Q: On Thanksgiving, why did the turkey cross the table? A: To get to the other sides.
- Q: What do you call a mermaid on a roof? A: Aerial.
- Q: What does a highlighter say when it answers the phone? A: Yello!!
- Q: What's Irish and comes out in the spring? A: Paddy O'Furniture.[8]
- Q: What's orange and sounds like a parrot? A: A carrot.
- Q: Where does a sick fish go? A: The dock.
- Q: What do a tick and the Eiffel Tower have in common? A: They're both Paris sites.
- Q: What's the difference between a pun and a Dad joke? A: It will become apparent.
- Q: What did the fish say when he swam into the wall? A: Dam!
- Q: Whose concert costs only 45 cents? A: 50 Cent featuring Nickelback.
- Q: What do you call an elephant that doesn't matter? A: An irrelephant.
- A ham sandwich walks into a bar and the bartender says, "Sorry, we don't serve food here."
- They've tried to improve the efficiency of wind farms by playing country music around them, but it's not working because they're big heavy metal fans.
- I used to be addicted to the hokey pokey, but I turned myself around.
- Plateaus are the highest form of flattery.
- My uncle just got fired from his job at the cheese factory. He kept getting in the whey.
- Granddad always told me that things could be worse — I could fall into a deep hole full of water — but I knew he meant well.
References
- Jensen, Michael (3 September 2015). "Father's Day: In praise of dad jokes". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, Australia: Nine Entertainment Co. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
- Luu, Chi (12 June 2019). "The Dubious Art of the Dad Joke". JSTOR Daily. New York City: ITHAKA. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
Dad jokes are a kind of anti-joke, different from other ways of joking in their performance, even formulaic jokes. Like self-deprecatingly joking about a personal flaw before your bullies do, dad jokes seem to court failure, presenting themselves as deliberately bad, deliberately uncool, deliberately anti-humor.
- Fetters, Ashley (September 25, 2018). "The Dad-Joke Doctrine". The Atlantic. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- "Don't ban the "Dad" jokes; preserve and revere them". Gettysburg Times. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: Sample News Group. June 20, 1987. p. 5. Retrieved February 9, 2019 – via NewspaperArchive.
- Fryman, Pamela (November 10, 2008). "Not a Father's Day". How I Met Your Mother. Season 4. Episode 7. CBS. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
- zombieshoes76 (August 30, 2009). "Spicks & Specks- Dad Jokes". Retrieved March 2, 2016.
- "We Added New Words to the Dictionary for September 2019". Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster. 17 September 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
- Ulbrich, Carla (12 February 2021). "Carla Ulbrich Friday Fun Livestream". Retrieved 17 February 2021. This video has dad jokes submitted by the audience, such as the Paddy O'Furniture joke.