It's a joke
| Helen: | Hello and welcome to The English We Speak from BBC Learning English, I'm Helen. With me today is quite a frustrated-looking Neil. Neil, what are you doing to that mobile phone? |
| Neil: | Argh, I can't get it to make a phone call. It does everything else: it takes photos, it connects to the internet, it even irons my shirts but it won't make a call! |
| Helen: | Your mobile phone irons your shirts? |
| Neil: | No, not really, but honestly it does everything apart from the one thing I want it to do—make a phone call. It's a joke! |
| Helen: | A joke? But you're not laughing. It can't be a very funny joke. |
| Neil: | Well if you say something is a joke in English it can also mean that it's not very good or not worthy of respect. |
| Helen: | Yes, 'joke' has a second meaning. Example: |
| The investigation into police corruption was a complete joke. Everyone knows the officers were taking money but they were let off. | |
| The weather forecast was a total joke. It said it would be warm and sunny but it's freezing and raining. | |
| Helen: | As you heard there in the example, the person described an investigation into police corruption as a joke. This doesn't mean it was funny. It means it wasn't serious. Also the weather forecast was so bad it was described as a joke. |
| Neil: | Notice that you can add words before 'joke' to make the meaning even stronger. It's a complete joke. |
| Helen: | A complete joke. |
| Neil: | It's a total joke. |
| Helen: | A total joke. |
| Neil: | It's an absolute joke. |
| Helen: | Anyway Neil, why don't you just read the instructions for your new mobile phone? Then you'll probably be able to work out how to make a call. |
| Neil: | I looked at the instructions but they're an absolute joke. |
| Helen: | Oh really? |
| Neil: | Well for a start they are in about 17 languages apart from English. |
| Helen: | What a joke! |
| Neil: | Yeah I know. |
| Helen: | Well we've heard lots of jokes in today's programme but there hasn't been much laughing. |
| Neil: | Argh, what a useless piece of ... |
| Helen: | Let's hope Neil finally works out how to use his phone. |
| Neil: | Argh, this is beyond a joke, it really is ... |
| Helen: | Join us again for The English We Speak. |
| Neil: | Argh, mobiles ... |