You know how very often people say that if you are able to understand jokes in English that means that you are fluent in English and this is actually one of the points describing the C1 English proficiency level which is Advanced. The next and the last one is only C2 mastery.

So, in this video we will test your ability to understand jokes in English thus find out how fluent you are in English. So it's going to be an educational and hopefully funny and fun video at the same time.

Jokes might be difficult to understand sometimes because they might be very specific to some cultural features. And here's the thing, to be able to understand everything you hear in English one really needs to spend a lot of time not only working on their listening skills and thereby immersing themselves into the culture, but also having Advanced vocabulary. Well, at least their passive vocabulary needs to be Advanced.

So, let's proceed to the jokes and don't worry if you don't understand them, I'll explain them, although it generally means that the joke isn't funny if you have to explain it, but it's technically the case if you are the one who's telling the joke.  So, anyways.

This first video from “We got the chocolates” actually just popped up in my feed recently and I thought that it would be a perfect fit for this video.

I accidentally took my cat's meds last night. Don't ask meow.
Nice. I've never heard that. That’s really good.

I was incredibly surprised when the stationery store moved.
Why is that?
Ha ha ha
It’s… it’s stationary!
There was no second line. That's the joke, yeah, that's the joke.
Sorry.
Now, that joke was a real belter. I think we laughed first because she didn't get it!
Sorry.

Okay, if you guys got it that's great. If not, let me explain. And by the way, I'm not laughing and my reaction is not authentic because I had already seen these videos.

So in the first one, when she said what sounded like “don't ask meow”, she actually said “don't ask me how”, which if you link the words “me” and “how” they might sound like “meow” in the Australian accent. And the joke was kind of about her taking her cat's meds and starting to sound like a cat.

The second one… so first of all you need to know what a “stationary store” is. A stationery store is a store that sells stationery, such as paper and paper products, postcards envelopes pens folders and so on. They are also called “supply stores”. And the word “stationary” is an adjective and it means “standing still, not moving, remaining in one place”. They are spelled differently but they sound the same. So it's a play of words. He was surprised because the store was stationary and it moved. Also he says it was “a real belter”, which is Australian slang for “very good” or “outstanding”.

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Okay, let's move on to the next one.
- Would you rather eat a baby goat or a matter baby?
- A matter baby?
- Yeah.
- What’s a matter baby?
- Nothing, sugar, what's the matter wit’ you?

Again, if you got it, amazing; if you didn't get it, let me break it down. So he asks “would you rather eat a baby goat or a matter baby?”, which it doesn't make any sense because there's no such thing as a “matter baby”. It's just a word play and it results in the other man asking what it is, which is exactly what the younger man needed. As soon as the older man actually asked the question, he realizes that it sounds like people who are dating, asking one another what's wrong, because “what's the matter” means “what's wrong”. And then, if you add the word “baby” at the end of this question, it will indicate that you are in a relationship with that person, or at least very close, so the younger man basically tricked the other man into saying this, and then hearing the other man actually say this, and then seeing his reaction when he realizes what he had just said, that's what's funny.

Okay so this one has been circling around for a while now.

- Here's the baby.
- Oh, thank you!
- I'm sorry but your wife didn't make it.
- Then send me the one my wife did make.

So, I'm pretty positive that everybody knows that “to make” something means “to create something”, like in this case a woman's body created a baby. However, when he said that “she didn't make it” he didn't mean that she didn't create it, he meant that she didn't survive. “To make it” means to succeed in something or to live through a difficult situation or a near-death experience and survive, so in this context “she didn't make it” meant she didn't survive.

These are just three examples and they were fairly easy. However, if you were able to understand them, then your English is on a very good level. There are of course a lot more complicated ones that involve word play, and they are used in movies very often. Literally, in every animation that I've watched recently, were these kinds of jokes. And honestly, exactly these kinds of jokes make the movies truly funny.

Okay, so how did you do? Did you understand all three of them? or one or two? or none?  Any of these are fine because it's not your first language and it might be difficult, but you'll get there. In any case, let me know in the comments down below.

Another type of Comedy that if you can understand it means that you are fluent in English is “Stand-up comedy” Have you tried watching stand-up in English? if so then let me know how it went. Did you understand it or was it difficult? If you like this type of content, I mean breaking down jokes also, please let me know and I'll make more of these types of videos, and thank you for watching, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye. Thank you.