Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hiromichi]

I do not understand. Please help me.

Is that school food spicy?
No, smoke always comes out of my ears!
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Hiromichi

[lotus]

Hi Hiromichi,

The joke would be funnier if the food were actually known to be spicy.

person1: Is that kimchi spicy?
person2: No, smoke always comes out of my ears!

Person #2 is trying to be funny (facetious) by implying that this happens all the time. What happens? Well, spicy food will cause smoke to come out of a person's ears if he is a cartoon character!


--lotus

[hiromichi]

lotus, Thank you, but I do not understand what "smoke to come out of a person's ears" mean.
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Hiromichi

[CP]

Smoke comes out of volcanoes because the interior of the Earth is filled with hot magma. If your head were filled with something hot and burning, at least in the cartoon or joke world, we would see smoke coming out of your ears.

The joke is in the smart-aleck answer, the ironic "no" that means "yes," because "smoke always comes out of my ears, you know!" It's as though he said, "Spicy? It's so hot, smoke is coming out of my ears!"

Hiro, we have to find you a better joke book. You got this from Garfield, didn't you?
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[hiromichi]

CP, thank you. It is not from from Garfield.
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Hiromichi