American humor | Let's Get Real

The Easiest Visual Jokes for Your Beginners

September 23, 2014 Author: iRena
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…Or else!

Sometimes you need to know only one word to find a situation hilarious. In this case, it is universally understood (and strategically placed, I should add) “Stop”. When your students understand a joke in a foreign language, even as simple as this one, they are empowered by this sensation: the English language is no longer just a theoretical construct but rather a practical tool for communication and enjoyment. Do not forget to have fun in the new language to nurture this feeling of joyful discovery!

Here is another one for you: have fun!
Humor Helps Where Service is Lacking

June 22, 2014 Author: iRena
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Our restrooms suck :)

Would you complain after this warning?

Very funny

Vocabulary notes:

1) to suck means to be horrible.

2) “Deal with it” here means “Just accept it, there is nothing you can do to change the situation.”
What kind of American are you?

January 9, 2014 Author: iRena
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And I thought you get these questions only if you speak with an accent… Turns out you get them if you “look with an accent”, too!
Dear Santa…

December 23, 2013 Author: iRena
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Do you understand what’s funny here? If you do, enjoy the joke. If you don’t, read on.

There is a tradition for children to write letters to Santa Claus asking for certain gifts. Millions of boys and girls pour their heart and soul on the paper expecting a desired present in return. There is a catch, however. As one of the Christmas songs has it, Santa knows “who’s naughty and who’s nice” and that’s how he decides who gets gifts and what kind of gifts. So this particular cat has no illusions as to what category he’s in: naughty! He has been misbehaving this year and he wants to get right to the point and explain what went wrong. He’s not wasting Santa’s time!

My guess is his letter will also have phrases like “It wasn’t my fault…”, “I didn’t do it…”, “He started it…”, “I had no idea…”, “The bird was already dead…” Can you think of other excuses a pussycat might make? Please share.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Giving Thanks

November 27, 2013 Author: iRena
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For many of us, immigrants and English as a second language speakers, Thanksgiving is not just a holiday. It is also a word that is very difficult to pronounce. I struggled with it for quite a while and couldn’t pronounce it clearly enough. Then I tried something that helped me and now I’m sharing this trick with you. I hope it helps you as well.

Here it is: the word consists of two parts “thanks” and “giving” since the idea of the holiday is “giving thanks” for everything good that we have in our lives. So if you have a hard time pronouncing this word, try reversing the parts and pronouncing “giving thanks” a few times, at first slowly, then gradually increasing the speed. Giving thanks, giving thanks, giving thanks….I bet after that, you’ll find it easier to pronounce “Thanksgiving”.

Please let me know if it helped.

By the way, did you know that this year, Butterball -the largest producer of turkey in the country- announced a shortage of the juicy birds? What happens if you don’t find a fresh turkey in your store? Follow the advice of this turkey in the picture and eat ham!
Come Back! Don’t fly away!

October 18, 2013 Author: iRena
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One of the essential skills ESL learners need to develop is tolerance to ambiguity. “What? Another skill I have to learn?” you might ask, ” But you (the teacher) told us that there are just four: reading, writing, listening, and speaking! Isn’t that enough already?” “Not enough, my friends,” I would say. The four skills you just mentioned are the kind of skills that are OBVIOUS and TALKED A LOT ABOUT. But there are a few others, that are as important as these four, but they are not really taught in the classroom, and I think they should be.

Come back! Don’t fly away!

Ambiguity is a situation in which something can be understood in more than one way. In simple terms, ambiguity is something confusing. An ambiguous sentence could be understood in one way by some people, and in a different way by others. And this misunderstanding makes it very funny sometimes. Consider this sentence: They said they saw the Eiffel Tower flying over Paris. Who was flying? The people who said this or the tower? This sentence could be understood either way, and that’s what makes it ambiguous. Watch out for this kind of situations, because there are great many of them in everyday life, and we have to figure them all out. And how exactly do we do that? I’ll tell you in another post.
Hmmm…What’s so funny?

October 14, 2013 Author: iRena
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Do you understand what is funny in this cartoon?

If you understand the humor of any particular nation, that means you’ve achieved a very important milestone (point on your journey toward any goal). Humor is the essence of any particular nation’s collective experience. Just think about it: if millions of people find something amusing and funny, there is a deep meaning to that joke, cartoon, or story for so many people speaking your target language. If you don’t understand what’s funny, you’re not fluent…not yet. How do you learn the humor? What do you do to understand and appreciate the beauty and wit of a particular joke that most native speakers find funny? Good question. You just breathe it in, and wait till it resonates with your personal sense of humor.

One of my favorite American cartoonists (people who normally make you laugh by creating funny images with captions) is Garry Larson. He didn’t just draw funny pictures; he created a unique cartoon universe that could become an excellent guide to all of us, immigrants, toward understanding what Americans find funny, and why.

His sense of humor is not light and airy, but rather macabre (dark, sarcastic, sinister). At least it is macabre in American perception; I don’t see anything particularly dark or sarcastic, but then again, I’m Russian, and that means I have more tolerance to dark and sinister things.
Humor me…

September 20, 2013 Author: iRena
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We consider something funny if what we hear is unexpected or unusual, and amusing. Humor is the key to unlock the character of a particular culture. Sometimes we hear a joke or see a cartoon, but we don’t get it. “What is funny about it?” we ask.

This means we’re missing something…In this blog, we’ll practice understanding jokes. You will be given a few choices to decide why the joke (picture, image, cartoon) is funny. After you entered your choice, you will see how your selection compares to other people’s. Let’s try it now. Take a look at this:
Why is this funny?
Because only husband can truly understand a woman.

Because that means that not a single man can understand a woman.

There is nothing funny here, it is actually pretty sad.

Because the woman must be unfaithful to her husband if she talks to other men (bachelors).
Outrun, outdo, outperform….

September 18, 2013 Author: iRena
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You don’t have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun your friends…

Prefix out——- sometimes means “do better than”, so outperform means perform better than somebody, outdo means do better than.

People say, “You outdid yourself”or “He outdid himself.”

It means the person did better than expected.

So, what is the joke telling us?
This joke is funny because...
bears can't run faster than people.

you hate your friends and you want the bear to catch them.

the bear will catch the slowest runner, so don't be the slowest and you'll get away.