Unfortunately, dear reader, I have been busy of late and so have not had time to blog as much or in as much detail as I would like. Today will be similar. I don't have the time to continue the epic of Harbin, and so I present the following diversion.
冷笑话/lěngxiàohuà, literally "cold jokes," are a type of joke that, to quote my dictionary, "are intended to be so corny as to make one groan." So basically they're bad puns.
My favorite that I've heard so far is the following:
有两块牛排，一个是三分熟，另外一个是五分熟。 他们在路上互相碰到了，但是连一次它们都没说。为什么?
因为它们不熟!
Yǒu liǎngkuài niúpài, yīge shì sānfēnshóu, lìngwài yīge shì wǔfēnshóu. Tāmen zàilùshàng hūxiāng pèngdào, dànshì lián yīcì tāmen dōu méishuō. Wèishènme?
Yīnwèi tāmen bùshóu!
So, there two steaks, one cooked rare, the other medium. They ran into each other on the street, but didn't say a word to each other. Why?
The punchline here, 因为它们不熟, works because of the two meanings of 不熟. One meaning is not well-cooked. Therefore, the punchline can be understood as , "because they're not well-cooked," as neither steak is well-done or cooked all the way through. However, the other meaning, the one that makes this joke so groan-inducingly hilarious, is the meaning of 不熟 as unfamiliar. So they didn't say hi to each other because they don't know each other! Comedy gold right there.
冷笑话/lěngxiàohuà, literally "cold jokes," are a type of joke that, to quote my dictionary, "are intended to be so corny as to make one groan." So basically they're bad puns.
My favorite that I've heard so far is the following:
有两块牛排，一个是三分熟，另外一个是五分熟。 他们在路上互相碰到了，但是连一次它们都没说。为什么?
因为它们不熟!
Yǒu liǎngkuài niúpài, yīge shì sānfēnshóu, lìngwài yīge shì wǔfēnshóu. Tāmen zàilùshàng hūxiāng pèngdào, dànshì lián yīcì tāmen dōu méishuō. Wèishènme?
Yīnwèi tāmen bùshóu!
So, there two steaks, one cooked rare, the other medium. They ran into each other on the street, but didn't say a word to each other. Why?
The punchline here, 因为它们不熟, works because of the two meanings of 不熟. One meaning is not well-cooked. Therefore, the punchline can be understood as , "because they're not well-cooked," as neither steak is well-done or cooked all the way through. However, the other meaning, the one that makes this joke so groan-inducingly hilarious, is the meaning of 不熟 as unfamiliar. So they didn't say hi to each other because they don't know each other! Comedy gold right there.
Now this I can get behind
ReplyDeleteIt warmed my soul and reaffirmed my belief in the goodness of man to see that terrible jokes are just as appreciated in China as in the US. I'm glad you approve.
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