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If you laugh, you're fluent. Understanding jokes in English.
If you laugh, you're fluent. Understanding jokes in English.
AccurateEnglish
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18:37 · May 29, 2026
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0:00
If you understand native speakers when they're telling jokes,
0:04
that's a sign that you have reached one of the final levels of fluency.
0:08
In this video, you will improve your English fluency by learning some words
0:13
and expressions in English jokes.
0:15
I will tell you some jokes
0:17
and you can test your fluency by whether
0:20
or not you understand them.
0:21
If you understand these, your English is probably quite fluent.
0:25
Have you ever been in a conversation where everyone started laughing,
0:29
but you had no idea what was so funny?
0:32
Many jokes contain words with a double meaning
0:36
and you might only know one meaning of the word.
0:39
And by the way,
0:40
sometimes what's funny in one culture may not be funny in another culture.
0:45
First, let's learn some words and expressions related to jokes.
0:49
We can say, "I get it."
0:50
And that means I understand the joke.
0:53
Or you can say, "I don't get it."
0:54
I don't get the joke and that means I don't understand it.
0:58
I don't know why it's funny.
0:59
Another common expression is it went over my head.
1:03
The joke went over my head and that means I didn't understand the humor.
1:08
I don't know why it's funny.
1:10
Everybody laughed but the joke went over my head.
1:13
Let's look at the meaning of punchline.
1:15
The last part of the joke that makes it funny is called a punchline.
1:20
You can say the punchline was so unexpected that everyone laughed.
1:25
Let's look at the expression to butcher a joke.
1:28
And that means to ruin the joke by telling it very badly.
1:32
If you butcher a joke, you completely destroy the joke.
1:36
Maybe you forgot some details and the joke wasn't funny anymore.
1:40
You butchered it.
1:41
And we have a phrasal verb to crack up.
1:44
And that's an informal way to say to laugh very hard.
1:48
So, we say to crack someone up.
1:51
That joke cracked me up.
1:54
The stand-up comedian cracked everyone up.
1:57
Or you can say to a person, "You crack me up."
2:00
And that means I think you're really funny.
2:02
You crack me up.
2:04
Let's listen to some native speakers.
2:06
>> I love responding and reading your comments.
2:08
You guys crack me up with your questions.
2:11
>> That just cracked me up, man.
2:13
>> It cracked me up in the moment
2:14
and it cracked me up on the rewatch.
2:16
>> You cracked me up.
2:18
Let's look at the adjective corny.
2:20
If a joke is corny, it's silly or it's predictable,
2:24
usually in an embarrassing way.
2:26
Maybe it's old-fashioned or it's overly sentimental or it's outdated.
2:31
You can say, "My dad tells corny jokes.
2:34
That joke was really corny."
2:37
And speaking of dads, we have the expression dad joke.
2:41
Do you know what a dad joke is?
2:42
A dad joke is simple
2:44
and it's a clean joke
2:46
and it's usually corny
2:47
and it's predictable and it's sometimes intentionally silly
2:52
and they're called dad jokes
2:53
because they're the types of jokes
2:55
that your father tells you.
2:57
He thinks it's funny but a lot of other people don't.
3:00
They just roll their eyes and they might say, "Oh, that's so bad."
3:05
Or, "Oh, no."
3:07
Or they might say, "That's such a dad joke."
3:10
My dad used to tell dad jokes and we laughed.
3:13
Not because it was funny, but because it was so bad.
3:17
Here's an example of a dad joke.
3:20
Why was the math book sad?
3:22
Because it had too many problems.
3:24
The joke uses a double meaning of the word problems.
3:28
In math, problems means exercises or questions to solve, and it also means difficulties.
3:36
So, the math book is sad because it has a lot of math problems,
3:41
but it also sounds like it has a difficult life.
3:44
And this is a typical dad joke
3:46
because it uses word play
3:48
and a very obvious punchline.
3:51
Word play is also called play on words.
3:54
It's a humorous use of language where a word has two meanings
3:59
or the two words sound similar.
4:01
Okay, let's look at the first joke.
4:04
This joke has a play on words
4:06
and you would need to know a very common English expression in order to
4:11
understand this joke.
4:12
Why don't skeletons fight each other?
4:16
And the punch line is because they don't have the guts.
4:20
You have to know the expression to have guts in order to understand the
4:24
meaning.
4:25
The first meaning which is not an expression is the inside of your stomach.
4:30
That's called the gut.
4:32
This is your gut.
4:33
And skeletons don't have guts, right?
4:36
They only have bones.
4:38
But there's also the English expression to have guts.
4:42
And that means to be brave, to be courageous,
4:45
or to have determination and strength in difficult situations.
4:50
Instead of saying to someone you are very brave,
4:53
you can say you have guts.
4:55
You have a lot of guts.
4:57
And if you say, I don't have the guts, that means I'm scared.
5:02
I'm afraid to do it.
5:04
I wanted to tell him the truth, but I didn't have the guts.
5:08
Or you can say, it takes a lot of guts to do that.
5:12
It takes a lot of guts to perform stand-up comedy.
5:16
This is a very common expression.
5:18
Let's listen to how some native speakers use to have the guts.
5:22
>> I didn't have the guts to tell my dad I was going to
5:24
be an acting major.
5:25
But if you're brave enough,
5:27
if you have the guts and the vision and the passion,
5:30
>> very few companies have the guts to do it.
5:32
>> So, let's look at the joke again.
5:34
Why don't skeletons fight each other?
5:37
Because they don't have the guts.
5:39
Let's learn another common English idiomatic expression through a joke.
5:44
Here's the joke.
5:46
Why was the calendar nervous?
5:48
And the punch line is because its days were numbered.
5:52
Its days were numbered means you have the numbers on the calendar.
5:56
So the calendar's days really are numbered.
6:00
But this joke also uses a common idiom.
6:03
One's days are numbered.
6:05
And that means something bad is going to happen soon.
6:09
Something will end soon.
6:11
It often means that a person will die.
6:13
But it can mean
6:14
that they will be fired
6:16
or that they will be replaced.
6:18
For example, you can say his days are numbered.
6:21
He is old and sick.
6:23
His days are numbered.
6:25
And that means he's not going to live much longer.
6:28
But you can also use this expression about objects.
6:31
You can say, "I love my old car, but its days are numbered.
6:36
It's very old.
6:37
It's not going to last much longer.
6:40
It keeps breaking down."
6:41
Let's listen to how native speakers use this expression.
6:44
>> In fact, once stars start forming inside a nebula, its days are numbered.
6:49
To the criminal traffickers, I say your days are numbered.
6:54
>> I think his days are numbered.
6:55
And I think that the uh regime's days are numbered.
6:58
>> Let's look at the joke again.
7:00
Why was the calendar nervous?
7:02
Because its days were numbered.
7:05
Do you get it?
7:06
Okay, let's go on to the next joke.
7:09
Why do cows wear bells?
7:12
And the punch line is because their horns don't work.
7:16
You have to know the meaning of horns.
7:18
It has two different meanings.
7:20
This is a horn on a car and the verb is to honk.
7:24
So you honk the horn to communicate with another driver.
7:28
But there's another meaning of horn.
7:30
These are cow horns.
7:32
The cow has horns.
7:34
So now you understand the joke.
7:37
Why do cows wear bells?
7:39
Because their horns don't work.
7:41
Did you get it?
7:42
Let's look at the next joke.
7:44
This one is related to being able to hear the words that are connected.
7:48
And here's the joke.
7:50
Why did the scarecrow win an award?
7:53
Because he was outstanding in his field.
7:56
This is a scarecrow.
7:58
And outstanding in his field means excellent at his job.
8:03
So if something is outstanding, it's very good.
8:06
It's impressive.
8:07
It's excellent.
8:08
And in his field means in his area of work or profession.
8:13
We can say she's outstanding in her field.
8:17
That means she's one of the best in her profession.
8:21
And outstanding in his field sounds like outstanding in his field,
8:28
meaning he is standing outside in the farm field.
8:33
A scarecrow stands in a field.
8:35
A field is a piece of land where crops grow like corn or wheat.
8:40
So, he is literally standing out.
8:43
He's physically outside and visible in the field.
8:46
So outstanding sounds like outstanding.
8:50
Exact same pronunciation because of linking.
8:54
So why did the scarecrow win an award?
8:57
Because he was outstanding in his field.
9:00
Now you got it right.
9:02
With the next joke, let's learn a common idiomatic expression.
9:07
Why are frogs so happy?
9:10
And the punch line is because they eat whatever bugs them.
9:14
Bug has two meanings.
9:16
It's both a noun and a verb.
9:18
Bugs are insects.
9:20
So a bug is another word for insect.
9:23
Let's look at the other meaning of bug.
9:26
This is a verb to bug.
9:28
To bug someone.
9:30
This is a very common expression.
9:32
It means to annoy or to bother or to irritate.
9:36
You can say, "It bugs me when people interrupt me."
9:40
That noise outside is really bugging me.
9:44
Stop bugging me.
9:46
And the past tense is bugged with a double G.
9:49
Let's listen to how some native speakers use to bug.
9:52
>> I think this is probably just a creative decision that bugs me personally.
9:57
This question has been bugging me for the longest time.
10:00
That hypocrisy kept bugging me.
10:02
>> Let's look at the joke again.
10:04
Why are frogs so happy?
10:06
Because they eat whatever bugs them.
10:09
They eat bugs and they literally eat the things that annoy them.
10:14
It's a play on words.
10:15
Let's learn another common casual word that English speakers use all the time.
10:21
And this joke is based on a homophone.
10:23
A homophone is when two words have exactly the same pronunciation.
10:28
And here is the joke.
10:30
Why did the cookie go to the doctor?
10:33
And the punch line is because it felt crummy.
10:36
And crummy has two meanings.
10:39
It can be spelled with mb y or a double m and y.
10:44
Crummy.
10:45
To feel crummy is to feel unwell, to feel sick.
10:49
Sometimes it's physical and sometimes it's emotional or to be unhappy.
10:54
So if you say I feel crummy, it means I don't feel good.
10:58
And let's look at the other meaning of crummy.
11:01
Look at the word crumb.
11:02
The B is silent
11:04
and that means broken off pieces of food
11:07
or broken off pieces of bread.
11:10
These are bread crumbs.
11:12
Make sure that you're not pronouncing the B.
11:14
So if you say the cookie is crummy,
11:16
it means that maybe the cookie is falling apart.
11:20
This cookie is crummy.
11:22
So crummy and crummy are pronounced exactly the same way.
11:27
And here's the joke.
11:28
Why did the cookie go to the doctor?
11:31
because it felt crummy.
11:33
The cookie is crummy and the cookie felt crummy.
11:37
It didn't feel good.
11:38
Crummy is a casual word.
11:40
It's very common.
11:42
Let's listen to how some native speakers used it.
11:44
>> It had a negative effect on me.
11:46
It felt pretty crummy.
11:47
>> Where astronauts came home and felt pretty crummy for quite a long time.
11:51
>> If you're really sorry, you should feel crummy.
11:55
The more expressions you know and the more vocabulary you know,
11:59
the more easily you will understand native speakers and humor in English.
12:04
So, make sure to keep expanding your English vocabulary
12:07
and your knowledge of English expressions.
12:10
And to continue your fluency journey
12:12
and take your English to the final level of fluency,
12:16
I recommend that you get my online courses.
12:19
We have a lot of different courses
12:21
that will help you really feel confident about your English.
12:24
There's the 400 advanced words you must know for fluent English course,
12:29
the American accent course
12:31
that will teach you all the rules
12:33
that you need to know for a good,
12:35
clear, standard American accent.
12:37
I also have a very popular course, the phrasal verbs course,
12:41
where you learn some very common expressions directly from native speakers.
12:46
and the new articles course
12:49
that teaches you all the rules
12:50
that you need to know about uh an un andthe.
12:54
Those three little words
12:56
that are very tricky for a lot of learners of English.
12:59
To learn more about the courses, go to accurateenglish.com.
13:03
Here's another joke that contains homophones.
13:06
Do you understand this one?
13:08
What did the grape say when someone stepped on it?
13:11
And the punchline is nothing.
13:14
It just let out a little wine.
13:16
Wine has the same pronunciation as the verb to wine.
13:21
As you know, wine is an alcoholic drink made from grapes.
13:26
When someone steps on a grape, it gets crushed and the juice comes out,
13:30
which is how wine is made.
13:32
So, it let out a little wine means the grape produced a little wine.
13:37
And to whine is a verb.
13:40
It means to complain in a sad high-pitched voice. to cry
13:45
or to complain annoyingly.
13:47
Small children often whine.
13:50
You can say to someone, "Stop whining."
13:53
And that means, "Stop complaining."
13:55
Don't whine about your homework.
13:57
Just do it.
13:58
Why are you always whining?
14:00
Let's listen to how some native speakers use it.
14:03
May seem obvious, but most people whine
14:05
and wallow in their misery rather than just doing something.
14:08
>> You can wish or you can whine or you can be a total jerk.
14:11
Many of us are are angry
14:13
and cynical and many of us spend a lot of our times whining.
14:17
>> Don't complain and whine about what is.
14:22
Create what is supposed to be.
14:25
>> Let's look at the joke again.
14:27
What did the grape say when someone stepped on it?
14:30
Nothing.
14:31
It just let out a little whine.
14:34
It made a sound like it was whining, like it was complaining.
14:38
Let's look at the next one.
14:39
Do you understand this joke?
14:41
What do you call a bear with no teeth?
14:44
And the punch line is a gummy bear.
14:47
To understand this joke, you have to know what gummy bears are.
14:51
And you have to know the meaning of the adjective gummy.
14:55
These are gummy bears.
14:57
They're candy.
14:58
Do you eat them in your country?
15:00
And these are gums.
15:02
They hold your teeth.
15:04
And sometimes we say gummy.
15:06
This is a gummy smile because we can see her gums.
15:10
So, here's the joke again.
15:12
What do you call a bear with no teeth?
15:16
A gummy bear.
15:17
Do you get it?
15:18
Let's look at the next one.
15:19
This joke has a very common idiomatic expression.
15:23
And here's the joke.
15:24
I stayed up all night wondering where the sun went.
15:28
Then it dawned on me.
15:30
In this case, the word dawn is used in two different ways.
15:34
Do you understand both of those uses?
15:37
I stayed up all night means I didn't sleep at night.
15:40
I stayed up.
15:41
I didn't go to bed.
15:43
And dawn means sunrise.
15:45
Dawn is the early morning time
15:47
when the sun rises
15:49
and the sky becomes light.
15:51
You can say I woke up at dawn.
15:53
In the winter, I have to wake up before dawn to go to work.
15:58
So, I didn't go to sleep at night thinking about the sun.
16:02
And then it became dawn.
16:05
Morning came.
16:06
It dawned on me.
16:08
And to dawn on someone is a common idiomatic expression.
16:13
It dawned on me means I suddenly realized.
16:17
I suddenly understood.
16:19
The answer finally came to me.
16:21
I had a moment of realization.
16:24
You can say the truth finally dawned on him.
16:28
It dawned on me why my friend was so angry.
16:31
Let's listen to some native speakers use to dawn on someone.
16:35
>> And it dawned on me that maybe I should take my own advice.
16:39
>> And it dawned on me right
16:40
then and there that this group was at a structural disadvantage.
16:43
>> And it dawned on me, maybe we're looking at this the wrong way.
16:47
>> It just never dawned on me.
16:48
>> And here's the joke again.
16:50
I stayed up all night wondering where the sun went.
16:54
Then it dawned on me.
16:56
And that means the speaker stayed up all night looking for the sun.
17:00
And then in the morning, two things happened.
17:03
The sun finally appeared and the person suddenly understood where the sun had been.
17:09
It finally dawned on him.
17:11
Let's look at the next joke.
17:13
And this one is also a play on words.
17:15
Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon?
17:18
Great food, but no atmosphere.
17:21
The joke is funny because the word atmosphere has two different meanings.
17:26
The first meaning of atmosphere is air, the gas around the planet.
17:30
That's a scientific meaning.
17:32
The moon has almost no air or atmosphere.
17:36
So if you open a restaurant on the moon, there is literally no atmosphere.
17:41
You can't breathe.
17:42
But atmosphere has another meaning.
17:45
It means the feeling or mood of a place, the ambiance.
17:50
And when we talk about a restaurant or a hotel or a party,
17:54
we talk about the atmosphere.
17:56
Is it romantic?
17:57
Is it lively?
17:58
Is it fun?
17:59
Is it relaxing?
18:01
Etc.
18:02
We can say this restaurant has a great atmosphere.
18:06
And that means it feels nice.
18:08
It feels pleasant to be there.
18:10
And if we say this place has no atmosphere
18:14
and that means the decor
18:16
or the design is boring
18:18
or cold and you don't want to be there.
18:21
Did you get it?
18:22
Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon?
18:25
Great food but no atmosphere.
18:28
How did you do?
18:29
How many of the jokes did you understand?
18:31
Let me know in the comments below.
18:33
Thanks for watching and keep practicing your English.
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