The feeling of not understanding something that has the whole group cracking up is so embarrassing. Maybe the person telling the story uses a few words you aren't familiar with or drops a reference you've never heard of, but before you know it, everyone's laughing and you're just sitting there smiling, wondering when your brain is coming back from its day off.
To make sure the same thing doesn't happen online, the subreddit r/ExplainTheJoke is ready to break down anything people throw their way. Whether it's a meme about politics, relationships, or language learning, there are no stupid questions in this corner of the internet
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What's The Realization
FakeTreverMoore12: Gen X, otherwise known as the Forgotten Generation, is left off the list
Clueless
dankshot35: BMW drivers don’t use turn signals
I Don't Get It
Justaredditor85: The idea is that a lot Christian nationalists no longer follow the teachings of Christ because their leaders don't find them convenient enough to establish wordly power. So for that they support republican candidates and policies which usually are only positive for the rich.
Am I Too European To Understand This?
Objectionne: Teen daughter has a school project due tomorrow and waited until 10pm the night before to ask dad for help.
I Don't Get It Did Something Happen?
Miserable_Speed5474: Cute as all hell. Cooked for Peter, constantly checked on him, stood up to her dad for Peter.
She showed more interest in Peter than MJ ever did, WITHOUT HER KNOWING THAT PETER IS SPIDER-MAN. SHE CARED FOR PETER PARKER.
I Didn't Get This
Safe-Avocado4864: Read left to right she steals the ball and puts it in the tree. Read right to left she rescues the ball from the tree and hands it to the kid.
Why is she 10' 6"? And why does she have a Sheikah Slate? I thought Zelda gave it to me...
Can Someone Please Explain
MirioftheMyths: Normal people would assume that because it's 50-50, and the last 20 have been successful, it's almost guaranteed that they'll die (this is often called the gambler's fallacy.)
Mathematicians know that past outcomes don't affect this outcome, so it's still 50-50
Scientists know that if he's had such a good streak, he's probably innovated the process in some way, providing a greater-than-50 chance of survival (although the sample size is small, so it's not certain you'll survive)
I have seen a bit of a different variation on this where the average surgeon has a higher success rate than the specialist. But the reason the specialist has a lower success rate is because he/she is the one that is given the riskier cases. Your chance of survival is in fact better with the specialist.
Uhhhh..?
Over_Bit_557: He’s gonna d*e (and you with him in the plane crash) because some company or government agency doesn’t want that getting out.
I Mostly Get It But What Kinda Maths Test Takes 3 Days For Only Two Questions?
JustSimple97: When you are allowed to use the Internet, textbooks and calculators, this means the question is so advanced that none of these things provide you with the solution.
I Definitely Don’t Get It
KTPChannel: His name is (East) Indian.
I grew up with a ton of Indians. Whenever we had to answer “what do you want to be when you grow up” in school, all these kids had a) detailed answers, and b) straight, emotionless faces when answering.
I don’t think a single one of them got to choose their own adventure.
Anyone Can Explain It ? 🤔
Aftermathemetician: For years, Leonardo DiCaprio was notorious for dumping all his girlfriends by the time they were 25.
The joke is he let go because Rose was too old for him anyway.
What Does This Mean?
LeafeeLeif: A lot of metal bands have logos that look like that.
I Don't Get It
TheRed_Warrior: Whitney Houston had a song called “I’m every woman.”
I Don't Get It
certifiedbambi: Heel to sky, western spy.
Slavs squat flatfoot. It doesn't strain your calves as much and means they can stay in squat for hours.
Are they built differently? Because I can't do that no matter how hard I try. And I use to be a ballet dancer!
What's Going On Here
mizinamo: These are names featured, in order, in the chorus of the song Mambo No. 5 (mostly famously covered, probably, by Lou Bega).
A little bit of Monica in my life
A little bit of Erica by my side
A little bit of Rita's all I need
A little bit of Tina's what I see
A little bit of Sandra in the sun
A little bit of Mary all night long
A little bit of Jessica, here I am
A little bit of you makes me your man (Ha)
Someone, Please Help. What Is This?
IdeaFrequent4358: Car lighter
Not A Single Idea
voxelpear: That's the band Cocteau Twins. They're Scottish. The lead vocalists singing is basically incomprehensible. Just like wifi passwords.
How Do The Cartel And Dragon Ball Correlate?
SpectralDragon09: Mexico loves Dragon Ball to the point where there's statics on crime rate dropping when a new episode is aired
I Don’t Fully Understand The Joke Here
Green_Dayzed: There's a thing called the surge (where they seem better) right before the end. It happened with my mom.
Terminal lucidity, the body figures there is no point in holding back its energy. This is very sad
Can Somebody Please Help Me
keener_lightnings: They thought they were setting their alarm but it's their calculator.
Gosh, thanks for explaining what happened, Keener. I thought it was a joke at first.
What’s Wrong With A4?
FatsDominoPizza: Nothing wrong. It's just showing that the ISO 216 international standard for paper sizes, followed by most countries around the world, has a logic to it:
Each format is built by halving the longer side of the format above. Take half of A0 and you get A1, halve it to get A2, halve it again to get A3, etc. (And the same applies for the B series and the C series.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_216
The "joke" is that North America doesn't use these standards, and instead use a seemingly arbitrary list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_size#North_American_paper_sizes and that perhaps they get offended when people point that out.
As someone who enjoys making paper craft and handmade cards, I prefer to order my paper from overseas to work with those paper sizes. I should add I live in USA
I'm Not From The Us, Can Someone Explain This To Me Pls
93rd_misfit: Car salesman pretending to speak with his manager to get a better deal for the customer.. common salesman practice.
Can U Help?
NubileReptile: Presumably it's referencing the stereotype that Americans are stupid and ignorant about even basic geography, so naming three countries would be enough of a challenge for them to eliminate a huge chunk of contestants.
The joke's on them... I memorized more than half of the animaniacs countries song in the 90s, and can still recite it!
I Don’t Get It
harleyr1: Not 100%, but I think it has to do with the stereotype that lesbians move very quickly in relationships. If I’m not mistaken, I think there’s a joke about them bringing a uhaul to a second date, implying they’re already ready to move in together.
I Don’t Know The Guy At The Bottom
Obaid_Rehman97: The top guy is andrew tate.
The guy on the bottom is the guy from the outdoor boys youtube channel. He goes to the most inhospitable places and camps.
Top guy is a closeted b****y queen in love with his own brother...guy on the bottom is a happy husband, and father that makes great YouTube vids.
I’ll Probably Be Kicking Myself When Someone Helps Me Realise
forFolsense: Profile Badge for the Achievement Top 1% Commenter Top 1% Commenter
in back to the future, Marty mcfly travels to 1955, breaks into his dad's room while hes sleeping, and convinces him that he's an alien from space called "darth vader"
I Am Not From Europe
ARatOnASinkingShip: Instant friendship unlocked: These countries get excited when they meet a foreigner who is trying to speak their language.
Nice try.... but why bother: These countries' languages are pretty difficult with their grammar and pronunciations, so it's like, "we appreciate the effort, but it'll be easier for us to just speak in a language you already know how to speak.
Cute but let's switch to English: Kind of the same as the last one with a bit of a sarcastic eye roll at hearing your attempt.
No reaction: They're English speaking countries, you speak English. You already speak the same language as them so there's no reaction.
PLEASE DON'T: France has a stereotype of being condescending and elitist, scoffing at foreigners who try to adopt their culture, and would try to shut down anyone trying to speak French and doing so poorly.
This is wrong. People in most of France LOVE it when someone tries speaking French. Just don't do it with a superior attitude and then mispronounce everything.
I'm Lost 😔
Euphoric_Metal199: This is referencing the Tower of Babel.
The Tower was supposed to "Reach the Heavens"
God did not like that.
So, he took the Universal Language and now, none of the construction workers can understand each other.
The greek one says "what the hell did you say?" if anyone's wondering
I Don’t Get It
Longo_Two_guns: I think the joke is that after a long day at work (presumably manual labor), most would have a huge appetite and be disappointed at their wife for making an unappetizing meal.
I disagree with the joke, as I would absolutely destroy that plate and be happy
I Don't Understand
Rough-Row7516: There was an episode of the Office where the actor on the left’s character, Jim, pulled a prank on one of his coworkers where he basically replaced himself with the actor on the right. He basically tried to convince his coworker, Dwight, that Jim was actually an asian man and was the entire time. He altered family photos, got the other coworkers to get in on it, and even got his wife, who also worked with them, to greet him with a kiss when she entered. That’s the context i can think of, but i’m not enough of a MCU fan to understand how that links those scenarios.
It's also kinda double-level because both John Krasinski and Randall Park had significant roles in MCU properties (Fantastic Four and WandaVision/the Ant-Man films). Although that's true of a lot of actors. The MCU link is really just about RDJ playing both Tony Stark/Iron Man and Doctor Doom.
I Don't Get It
Nervous-Road6611: I may be a physicist, but even I know how to spell "brake". But, as to the joke, when you turn the car, the car is angularly accelerating. When you hit the gas, the car is linearly accelerating. When you hit the brake, the car is linearly decelerating (i.e., negative acceleration). They are all forms of acceleration.
Adungeddit
theeynhallow: Everest is a comparatively easy mountain to climb, all it really requires is an above-average level of fitness and basic mountain skills (and an absurd amount of money). There are huge queues on the mountain with the sheer number of people walking up it.
K2 on the other hand is notorius for being one of the world's deadliest mountains, with death an extremely likely prospect for just about anyone attempting it (around a quarter of climbers have died on its slopes). It had never been summitted in winter until a few years ago when Nims' team finally did it.
30 Minutes In, Still Nothing
Jared_the_Fool: Was already posted before, girl in the middle holding a flask instead of a clutch
Explain Please?
[deleted]: So the reason pizza party slices were so small was because the teachers bought the pizza with their own money and that's an effort made for the students by them.
Completely Lost Here
omrixs: The joke is that people who’re (supposedly) extremely aware of their emotions are ones that have a lot of experience going to therapy — which usually means that they’ve been going to therapy from a young age (which is sometimes indicative of childhood trauma), or that they’ve been through some very intensive care at some point in their lives (like psychosis).
People who went through therapy like that can often describe their emotions verbally very well. In other words, they speak shrink. That’s not to say that they’re actually in touch with their emotions, or that they’re capable of adaptive and well-balanced emotional regulation, or that what they’re talking about is actually what they’re going through (especially when it comes to people with some forms of severe personality disorders), only that they’re ostensibly good at describing their emotions verbally.
In short, it’s a psych joke (and imo a lame one at that).
I Dont Get This One? Can Someone Explain?
Zealousideal_Leg213: I believe because both are common in AI writing. Using them makes one suspect, and might cause checkers to flag them, even though they're valid things to use.
I recently wrote a small text and realized that it looks like it was created by AI. Fortunately, it didn't matter anyway, but I shortly felt like editing it to make it sound less AI like. Instead, I searched for a name for such feeling. Not 100% fitting, but AImposter Syndrome sounded fun.
Please Explain To Us Unemployed People
AgencyInformal: Dell - you are in generic midsize corporate
MacBook - startup, they lose funding you are fired
Lenovo - you are working for a company with solid foundations, established years ago, stable job
Edit: Okay everyone, this is a stereotype.. You can stop explaining how your Millitary contractors employer existed since the 1920s and is using MacBook laptop as the company wide equipment
Math Doesn’t Check Out?
CarobPuzzleheaded481: RuneScape’s progressive leveling system means that the experience you need to get to level 92 in any given skill is half the experience needed to reach 99 in that skill (also, the font is the same used in the game).
What Does This Mean?
BlackKingHFC: A light brighter than the flame will cause the air distortions caused by the burning fuel to cast a shadow. It doesn't need to be a nuclear explosion. A spotlight or a powerful flash light can produce the same result. That is how the photo was taken. These aren't deep secrets they can easily be tested.
Help I Don’t Understand This
DarkShadowZangoose: I think it might be because you almost never see 270° being used
mostly because a 270 degree turn in one direction is just the same thing as a 90 degree turn in the other in most scenarios
I was rewriting code and I saw an image rotated 270 degrees and I was like, "Oh the hell you do." and I changed it to -90.
Am I Missing Something?
Apparently, what's missing here is the explanation. In my interpretation, this panel is illustrating the irony and hypocrisy of tourists, visiting tourist destinations, who are complaining about the fact that said destinations are flooded with other tourists, while mentally excluding themselves as being an equal part of the problem.
I Don't Get This One At All
Stradoverius: This is either about boobs or niche tea hipsterism. As a certified pretentious tea nerd, the shape and size of the tea cup can enhance a teas aroma, keep it hot longer, and make the experience of drinking it better.
But it's probably about boobs.
It's not just the size of the tea cup, it's what they are made from - white inside and thin porcelain or china makes a LOT of difference to the taste. No idea about the b***s though....
What’s Gonna Happen??
BitNumerous5302: Revelation 6:12 and one or two other biblical passages associate a blood moon with the coming end of the world. Apocalyptic types like to get worked up about these
Blood moons are a very common celestial phenomenon, though, occurring roughly twice every three years. So yes, if or when the world ends, it will be presaged by a blood moon at most a year or so earlier, but so will all the times the world didn't end
ah, like Charlie Brown states to Snoopy: One day we all gonna d*e. And Snoopy replies: Yes, but on all the other days we won't.
Unable To Understand This After Thinking For An Hour
WriedGuy: It's a reference from the Indian movie name Dhurandar The Revenge, the Hero tries to poison the main villain, by applying poison to bandage and shaking hand with him
The Game?
Danzarr: the number spells "the game" in the old number pad texting method.
The game is an old meme/mind game thats been going on since the 70s, the objective of the game is to not think about the game, when you think about the game, you lost and are supposed to announce it, which causes other people to lose because then they think about the game. Everyone is playing the game whether they know it or not.
What Do The Items Mean
that0neBl1p: So a while ago someone on Reddit asked how to get a cylinder out of an M&M tube where it was stuck, along with some butter. People put it together that it was his penis but he stuck with the cylinder ruse so long that it became a meme. People would say like “just admit you got your penis stuck” and he’d reply with “it’s a cylinder”. Just look up “cylinder in M&M tube” and there are videos of that glorious thread.
What Does This Mean
muckenhoupt: The social media account managers for two brands are having a fake spat for publicity. Then a third unrelated brand joins in and ruins the artifice.
Why Send A Electron
phhoenixxp: there was a video that showed someone speedrunning a mario game (i think it was 64 idk) and he suddenly teleports above a huge obstacle course, saving him a shit ton of time. its still unexplained what the cause of it was but most people speculate it was a single solar particle that changed a 0 to a 1 in his elevation data inside the game's code
edit: guys please i get it i didnt add all the details and got some parts wrong but chill 😭
I Am So Clueless
[deleted]: He resembles Zeke Yaeger. A character in Attack on Titan anime. Basically, if you drink his spinal fluid and he screams, you turn into a titan (monster in that anime). In the last season his spinal fluid was mixed with wine and people drank it unknowingly. Bad things happened after that
Can’t Believe I Don’t Get This
Elethana: Morel mushrooms are a very popular foraging target.
What?
BlueberryTerrible247: If I remember correctly that was the Screen you got when you were playing for a longer time telling you to take a break.
What's The Implication?
Malacath87: She said no. She now sleeps with the fishes
Is It A Gift? Should He Be Grateful For It?
Ok-Journalist-8875: I’m pretty sure it’s anime thing. A Hair antena, ahoge, cowlick, etc is often used in manga and anime to show a character that has low intelligence. Not always though. It could also mean the character is goofy, gullible, naive, etc.
Whats Wrong With This Type Of Girls?
IceBurnt_: Bascically goth girls are apparently the most difficult kind of girlfriends to maintain...thats what the internet tells me idk im a hive mind member
Edit: from the countless replies i take it that goth gfs are just unpredicted girls rather than mentally unstable satanic cultists or whatever ihve heard.
Idk, from what I know, alt girls are rather easy to "maintain", just be interesting, kind and treat them well (I've never dated one, but I'm friends with quite a few). The "hard to maintain" ones are usually the influencer-wannabes who require you to be at least 180 tall, gym body, 100k+ income, own latest iPhone, spend horrendous amounts of money on them, etc etc.
I Don’t Understand
Ru-Ling: That’s the chair he died in… and looks like he lived on.
Can Someone Explain? What's The Reference Here?
Rogue_Like_Maya: Arkham Trilogy (video game) Batman is a lot more brutal and terrifying to fight than Dark Knight (movies) Batman, from what I can tell
I would, but BP would be very very concerned, delete all my posts instantly, and remove my account straight away.
Load More Replies...I would, but BP would be very very concerned, delete all my posts instantly, and remove my account straight away.
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