How do I react to a poor joke? How do you react to it if your close friend has made a poor joke? I think I could say... "Do you think that could be called a joke?" I have no idea what it sounds li

Hailey

How do I react to a poor joke? How do you react to it if your close friend has made a poor joke? I think I could say... "Do you think that could be called a joke?" I have no idea what it sounds like. ＠Jura : I know I could say just "Not funny!". I just wanted to know if there're any other expressions in this case. I sometimes prefer to speak *indirectly*. ＠luciusverus : Well, I see. :) ＠Peachey : Aha - Thank you! :) ＠Rokr : Nice one. I'm good at making a wicked grin ;) ＠Marie : You know, I love that. Quite Britishness. ＠DoraMaar : ......? Are you trying to joke? ＠Mona : Okay ＠Mark Kramer : I think you took it seriously. I talk the childish way with my friends and unintentionally do silly things that make us laugh, at times. If I do it only with them, I think it's fine. ＠Wozitoya : I got a sense what that's like. ＠SafetyQueen : Staying silent isn't good for friendship... ＠KK/Jenifer, roi g : Yeah I see... ＠Katt : You're right. Embarrasing or awkward situations...I take it all away with funny jokes, my friends don't need to get embarrassed then since we will forget after we laugh at it for a while. I was curious if there're some witty comments...as I believe there's always a variation of something to say no matter what it is. I could have said something translated from what I used to say in Korean, but I was not sure what it would sound like to their ears. Thank you, Katt! :)

Jan 3, 2010 8:01 AM

Answers · 15

Just to adjust your own sentence Hailey, try "Do you think that's actually funny?" and of course frown while you say it! >:-( grrrr

January 3, 2010

If a close friend of mine made a poor a joke, we often throw the joke back at him. We would laugh not because of the joke.. but because he has a poor joke. You can say it in a joking, mocking manner but laugh at the end so he will not be offended.. or to show that even it is a poor joke, he still was able to made you laugh. Sometimes we throw a fake, sarcastic laugh.. and eventually, we would then be really laughing hard at ourselves. The key to jokes is being spontaneous, and being able to make fun even out of yourself. Friends can still share laughter even with a bad joke. But if you're not really in the mood for jokes, just say it like you mean it.

January 3, 2010

Well, I think it really depends on your personality... how you would react. Frankly, I usually just kind of laugh weakly a little, politely and with a smile but not like bursting out with laughter. Then, I just change the topic. I don't really like the idea of trying to put someone down or embarrass them, even if their joke was not that funny. But that is just my personality. If I really don't get the joke, then I may ask, "Hmm... what do you mean?..." or "Can you explain that?". But if I know what they meant and it is just a bad joke, I will do what I said above. In fact, I think even bad jokes can sometimes make you smile or giggle and lighten the mood, so I really don't like the idea of being rude, mean or sarcastic back to someone making one, especially if they are my close friend. The only case where I would say, "Do you think that's funny???" or something like that, is if it was an offensive joke (i.e. racist, cruel, inappropriate...etc.). ^^ Oh!! If I know that my friend also knows they were making a bad joke, then I might jokingly say something like, "What are you talking about??? Ahaha." with a smile. Well, this is just the way I like to handle that situation... ^^

January 4, 2010

Well, I'm probably not gonna earn many popularity points with this one, I'm sure. But I'd say, don't try and be ironic. For one, it's almost always sarcastic, really, and can backfire easily. Like: "You are actually making good progress here." A person might well construe that as you basically calling him retarded (even though you may just mean the level of his jokes is improving). It's only 1 step up from comments like "Oh, I see you made it out of six grade!" Or "How much imagination! How long did it take to say that?" (in the above reply). It's a bit childish, really, to retort that way. And you definitely lose the moral high ground. Just say like Jura says: "Not funny!" Or just a sound like: "Ehhh..." to indicate you didn't think it all that funny. Or say nothing at all, and just don't laugh. And if you want to say something truly 'British,' without offending in return, just say something like: "X, really!" Where X is your friend.

January 3, 2010