Useful grammar humor

Skrej

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I thought these were funny (several hysterically so), but then I realized several of them were also actually useful as humorous examples of things I'm always harping on students about in my composition classes.

• An Oxford comma walks into a bar, where it spends the evening watching the television, getting drunk, and smoking cigars.

• A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.

• A bar was walked into by the passive voice.

• An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.

• Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.”

• A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite.

• Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything.

• A question mark walks into a bar?

• A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.

• Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Get out -- we don't serve your type."

• A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.

• A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.

• Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart.

• A synonym strolls into a tavern.

• At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar -- fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack.

• A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment.

• Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor.

• A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered.

• An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel.

• The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known.

• A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned by a man with a glass eye named Ralph.

• The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.

• A dyslexic walks into a bra.

• A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines.

• A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert.

• A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget.

• A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony.



- Jill Thomas Doyle
 

Skrej

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Here are a few more of my own to add. Can anyone else come up with their own or improve on mine?

  • An alcoholic alliteration, absent acceptable ambition, ambles aimlessly into any adjacent alehouse acquiring all available alcohol.
  • A metaphor walks into a bar, the ambience a balm to its soul.
  • An unclear antecedent walks into a bar, uncertain where it is.
  • A pun walks into a bar and asks for milk. The bartender says "How dairy you try ordering that here!"
  • The present perfect continuous has been walking into this bar since it first opened years ago.
  • Subject verb agreement want to walk into a bar, but don't.
 

shootingstar

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A double entendre walked into a bar and asked the barman for a drink, so he gave her one.
Why does the bartender give her one(n)??? - it's a double entendre - he has to give her two (maybe different) drinks; that would be much more humorous.
 
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emsr2d2

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Why does the bartender give her one(n)??? - it's a double entendre - he has to give her two drinks; that would be much more humorous.
But "give her two" isn't a set phrase with a double meaning.
 

shootingstar

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So, give or gave her one has a double meaning? What does it mean? Does it mean to clip someone?
 

emsr2d2

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So, give or gave her one has a double meaning? What does it mean? Does it mean to clip someone?
No. It means to have sex but it's an unpleasant term because it suggests that the man has all the power and almost that the woman has no say. It's not far off using "rape". It's not used much these days, fortunately.
As a rule, for something to be a true double entendre, the alternative meaning needs to be a rude one.
 

Kjert34

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I thought these were funny (several hysterically so), but then I realized several of them were also actually useful as humorous examples of things I'm always harping on students about in my composition classes.

• An Oxford comma walks into a bar, where it spends the evening watching the television, getting drunk, and smoking cigars.

• A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.

• A bar was walked into by the passive voice.

• An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.

• Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.”

• A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite.

• Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything.

• A question mark walks into a bar?

• A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.

• Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Get out -- we don't serve your type."

• A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.

• A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.

• Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart.

• A synonym strolls into a tavern.

• At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar -- fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack.

• A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment.

• Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor.

• A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered.

• An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel.

• The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known.

• A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned by a man with a glass eye named Ralph.

• The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.

• A dyslexic walks into a bra.

• A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines.

• A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert.

• A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget.

• A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony.



- Jill Thomas Doyle
I found these linguistic jokes amusing and realized they serve as instructive examples for my composition classes, where language is paramount, we appreciate the nuances. In a related note, 'NSFAS Embarks on Student' captures the essence of our commitment to educational support.
 
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