[Ads-l] dad joke

[Neal Whitman]

I did a piece for Grammar Girl on this in 2017. The OED’s earliest citation is from 1987: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/what-is-a-dad-joke

Neal

> On Feb 6, 2021, at 7:55 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Wikipedia: "A dad joke is a short joke, typically a pun, presented as a
> one-liner or a question and answer, but not a narrative. Generally
> inoffensive, dad jokes are stereotypically told by fathers among family,
> either with sincere humorous intent, or to intentionally provoke a negative
> reaction to its overly-simplistic humor."
> 
> I've been hearing this a lot for the last year or so: "Is that a dad joke?"
> The question implies, "That's pretty dumb joke. Why did you tell it?"
> 
> Essentially, "a simple quip or joke that is not very clever or funny, of a
> sort that might be told by one's father."
> 
> JL
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org