英米笑話秀逸Excellent English and American Jokes

About this story

A collection of humorous anecdotes from English and American culture, focusing on witty twists and unexpected punchlines.

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Source

This text comes from Aozora Bunko (青空文庫), the volunteer-run library of Japanese writing that is out of copyright. See this work on Aozora Bunko

Base edition (底本): 「日本の名随筆　別巻47　冗談」作品社
1995（平成7）年1月25日第1刷発行

Typed in by 門田裕志. Proofread by noriko saito.

Yomimaru changed the spelling to modern kana and modern kanji, and replaced some archaic words with modern ones.

The furigana are Yomimaru's. In the app it is split into 4 parts.

What you'll learn

The narrator opens by saying that English-speaking people love jokes and use them to enliven dinner conversation. He credits Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock for recommending the next joke, and apologizes that, having been evacuated without reference books, he can only reproduce it from memory.

On a sleeper train, a passenger who plans to get off at Buffalo instructs the porter to throw him onto the platform if he doesn't wake. When he wakes after the train has passed Buffalo and complains, the porter says someone was already thrown off there.

Mr. Simpson, a pathologically helpful man, sees a loose wool thread on a girl's collar at the theater. He tugs at it until a whole ball of yarn forms in his hands, panics, and runs out. The girl later tells her sister she lost her vest.

Key vocabulary

笑話しょうわ	joke, funny story
寝台車しんだいしゃ	sleeping car (on a train)
夜明よあけ	dawn, daybreak
四しの五ごの言いわせず	without letting him make excuses / without any quibbling
親切しんせつもの	kind-hearted person
毛糸けいと	yarn, knitting wool
牧師ぼくし	pastor, minister
皮肉ひにく	sarcasm, irony

Grammar points you'll meet

• 〜てしまう N4Expresses an action that is completed, often with a sense of regret, surprise, or unintended consequence.

  私わたし、昨晩さくばんお芝居しばいへ行いって、チョッキをなくしてしまったわ

• 〜たら N4Conditional 'when/if'; describes what happens after a certain condition is met.

  翌朝よくあさ、旅客りょかくが目めを覚さましたら、もう日ひは高たかく、バッファローはとうに通とおり越こしていた。

• 〜てみる N4To try doing something.

  「そんなものを一いち枚まい、君きみ達たちは一体いったい何なにに使つかうんですか？」と訊きいて見みた。

• 〜んです N5Explanatory sentence-ending; gives a reason or explanation.

  窓まどのところは外そとから見みえますから、広告こうこくのために大おおきいのを出だすんです。

• 〜ように (state/purpose) N3Expresses 'so that...' or a desired state; here: 'I want it to be so that...'.

  説教せっきょう壇だんでピンを落おとした音おとが座席ざせきの隅々すみずみまで聞きこえるようにありたい。

• 〜始める N3To begin/start doing an action.

  牧師ぼくしさんは書記しょきに命めいじて、聖書せいしょを読よみ始はじめた。

Cultural notes

• Stephen Leacock and Canadian HumorThe author cites Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock as a connoisseur of American jokes. Leacock (1869–1944) was a famous English-Canadian writer and economist known for his light, gentle comic essays.
• Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and the Sleeping CarIn the early 20th century, taking a sleeper train to Niagara Falls was a common tourist trip. Buffalo was the gateway city. The joke plays on the passenger's fear of oversleeping and the porter's literal obedience.
• Cockney h-droppingThe joke about the Londoner relies on the Cockney feature of dropping initial h sounds, so 'ham' is heard as 'am'. The father's correction is comically absorbed into the household's own pronunciation.
• George Washington and the Cherry Tree MythIn American folklore, young George Washington famously 'could not tell a lie' about cutting down a cherry tree. The joke reduces him to 'an American who didn't lie', which is technically a minimal answer from a schoolchild.

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