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Jokes Page
"She who laughs last,
laughs best!"
"Laughter is the
best medicine."
"Laugh and the world laughs with you, trip over a big bag of garbage and fall on the sidewalk breaking a bone or two and you fall alone!"
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Easy Joke Three
"A Hippo Orders a Drink"
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Humor in Britain often uses "understatement", as does this joke. It starts with a very large animal (a hippopotamus, or "hippo"
for short) going into a coffee shop, a very strange idea, isn't it? When the waiter tries to cheat the big hippo, we naturally
expect a big response.
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One hot day, (1) a hippo went into (2) a café, sat down at a table and
(3) ordered a large glass of orange
juice with ice. (4) The waiter was very surprised to see a hippo, and to hear it talk, but he got it
the glass of orange juice with ice. The waiter thought the hippo knew nothing about money,
and so, when the hippo gave him (5) a five pound note, the waiter gave him just one pound in
change. “I hope you enjoyed the orange juice,” said the waiter. “We don’t often (6) get
hippopotamuses in here.” “With orange juice at four pounds a glass,” said the hippo, “
I’m not surprised.”
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(1) a big animal from Africa with a very big mouth and small ears
(2) a small restaurant where we can drink coffee or other drinks
(3) ask for food or drink in a restaurant
(4) paper money equal to five pounds
(5) when restaurants "get" customers, it means they "have" customers (customers are coming in)
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Explanation: Part of the humor of this joke, I think, is because the hippo's simple answer
seems surprisingly human. Another part of the humor comes from the fact that there is usually another reason
we don't see many hippos in cafes - because hippos normally swim in African rivers, rather than sit in London cafes!
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