So I found this joke when I was watching a vedio clip of The Ellen Show (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSgeq-EubrU). The whole scene was:
"(Ellen was pretending to investigate the audience to indentify a Russian spy. She picked up a lady and kept questioning her.)
E: Okay you go into the bathroom, you are American.You come out, you are American. What are you when you are in there?
L: European(urinate -ian)?
E: That right! You get it. Wait, what are you when you are on your way in there?
L: I'm a Russian(rush -ian).
E: Yeah you are a Russian!"
Well it took me some time to understand the implications. Then I found it so hilarious that I could not stop laughing, and I'm still laughing as I'm writing it down now. It is really interesting when words become subtle in these occasions. I'm wondering if there are more of these funny word plays. Could you guys post the ones you know below? Thanks a lot!
Part 2: The joke explained
Bearing these two things in mind (the a- prefix and the dropped letter G) now we can explain the joke.
What are you when you are in there? You're a-peein'
sounds like
What are you when you are in there? European
This is funny because it has a double meaning: it's pronounced exactly the same as "European" but it means "you are peeing" in old-fashioned English (with the a- prefix and the dropped letter G).
What are you when you are on your way in there? You're a-rushin'
sounds like
What are you when you are on your way in there? You're a Russian
This is funny because it also has a double meaning: it's pronounced exactly the same as "you're a Russian" but it means "you are rushing" in old-fashioned English (with the a- prefix and the dropped letter G).
It's not "urinate -ian"
It's not "rush -ian"
I will try to explain. Jokes are hard to understand when they are not in your native language. To understand this joke, you need to know about two things: the a- prefix used before verbs in old-fashioned English, and the tendency in some dialects of English to drop the letter G.
The a- prefix
There is an old-fashioned way of using the present continuous tense in English.
In modern English, if somebody asks "what are you doing?" we answer by saying, for example: "I am reading" or "I am cooking" or "I am writing".
However, in more old-fashioned English, people used to use the prefix a- before the verb. If somebody asked "what are you a-doing?" people would say "I am a-reading" or "I am a-cooking" or "I am a-writing".
See here for a discussion on the a- prefix in old-fashioned English:
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/a-running-prefix-a-before-verb.283120/
Dropping (not pronouncing) the "G"
In colloquial pronunciation, it was also very common for people to drop the letter G at the end of words ending in -ing.
Hence, doing would be pronounced doin'
(We put an apostrophe where the letter G should be, to let the reader know that the letter G is missing, and that we should not pronounce it).
In the U.S. this is one of those jokes that we learned when we were kids.
You are a peein'= You're a peein' = European
Here's one you may not know since your native tongue is not English (but most native speakers have heard this silly joke):
"Why was six scared of seven?" - because seven "ate" nine.
<a href="https://youtu.be/kAG39jKi0lI">https://youtu.be/kAG39jKi0lI</a>;
This is a link of BlackBerry is not working the one @Susanne Walter suggested.
