One of the best things about becoming a father is getting a power-up: you now intuitively know how to crack goofy puns. Whether there's a family crisis or the household's mood is plummeting, it's always there, ready at their disposal to make our eyes roll.
While dads are essentially the embodiment of a cringe-fest, there's something undeniably charming about the way they go about life. Enter the Classic Dad Moves Instagram page. From dads goofing around the BBQ to spot-on memes that all dads undoubtedly will chuckle at, this page is truly "saving the world one dad joke at a time." Prepare to roll your eyes, dear pandas, because we hand-picked the dandiest of them all.
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Ah, the enigmatic energy of dads with their terrible, terrible yet wholesome puns. Believe it or not, in 2019, the term 'dad joke' made its way into Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary as "a wholesome joke of the type said to be told by fathers with a punchline that is often an obvious or predictable pun or play on words and usually judged to be endearingly corny or unfunny." But as in all art forms, can we pin down dad humor to a single, limited definition?
As Stanley Dubinsky, a Professor of Linguistics at the University of South Carolina and the father of two boys, explains, it's not so simple. "Dads are, in our culture, entrusted with teaching some of these things to their children, and one might think of dad jokes as a kind of 'introduction to humor,'" he told Bored Panda in an email. "They’re dad jokes because they’re unsophisticated, but they’re unsophisticated because children are just beginning to learn how humor works."
Dad jokes, we are told, often utilize the power of ambiguity or double entendre to add humor to their punchlines. "What did the janitor say when he jumped out of the closet?” “Supplies!” Sure, the setup of this joke is quite obvious, with a couple of letters substituted with near-sounding ones. However, there are some which require more effort on the wordplay, considering the age (and generation) of your audience. Prepare to roll your eyes: 'What concert costs just 45 cents? 50 Cent featuring Nickelback!'
"I don’t think that dads explicitly and consciously frame dad jokes for their audience," Dubinsky said. "Rather, in the same way that we avoid complicated nuanced words with children (pointing out a 'horse' rather than a 'mare' or a 'stallion'), we make humor legible for children to help onboard them into that world."
I love this, please people, dont feel ashamed by your parents
Why don't you start by clearing out that quarry no one has touched for a century. I'll get you a shovel.
But helping kids understand the appeal and rules of humor is not the only good thing about dad jokes. According to recent research conducted by Marc Hye-Knudsen, a humor researcher from Aarhus University, dad jokes can actually play a role in helping children develop the ability to handle embarrassment and grow into self-assured adults.
"c'est pas versailles ici !!!" (it's not the castel of Versailles here) the sentence my GenX french head heard aaaaall my childhood :D
Turns out, by regularly hearing these cringey jokes, children can build up a higher tolerance for embarrassment, which can ultimately have a positive impact on their personal growth. The repetitive nature of hearing the same joke over and over also helps children develop endurance. "They show their children that embarrassment isn’t fatal. For a child who is approaching or has entered adolescence, which appears to be a sensitive period for sociocultural processing, this is an immensely valuable lesson," Hye-Knudsen writes.
Ha my dad 🙈 up since 5am waiting to tell us that hes up early then goes to have a nap
However, why does this type of humor make us cringe like no other combination of syllables? "Dad jokes and their relevance for children come apart when they’re used between adults. In those cases, we tend to use them to be silly, to relax the conversational mood, or sometimes to be annoying," Dubinsky admitted, noting that deep down most fathers understand they're embarrassing to their kids, which makes dad jokes even more effective.
"Clearly, dad jokes don’t have the same utility among adults who have acquired a sophisticated ability to parse jokes, and so the act of using them in such company usually carries more connotations than the meaning of the joke itself," Dubinsky said. "If people groan, they may do so out of annoyance. Or perhaps because they’re supposed to groan – and thereby acknowledge that they have understood the tacit agenda behind using one."
My dad used to work on cargo ships until I was born. Every year we'd go to the UK by ferry and he'd stand outside on the deck almost the entire time, rain or sunshine. 🥰 He misses the sea but has always said that he'd missed me more if he'd continued his sealife ❤️🥰
Jesus…I just did this the other day at Family Dollar when the toilet paper wouldn’t scan
Pandas over 21 hear me out. You get to the airport 3+ hours early, check your bags, then bar hop your way to your flight. It's a life changing experience.
All the hate for Sam Adams... I will forever stan Sam Adams Summer Ale. It's the most light, crisp, refreshing beer in the world.
My dad uses a mobility aid, but he speedwalks anyway. And when he has decided on a route, we all clear the path for him like it's some weird game of curling. I love my dad though 🥰
I actually enjoy chopping my own firewood (when there's an opportunity, about once every 5 years)
In theory our short-term memory can recall 7-items. Our wives know this, but after we remember the beer, the chips, newspaper, fill up with fuel, check the tyres, and clean the windscreen, then check on the specials at Bunnings - well it does get tricky.
Turn it off, you will kill us all 🙈 think 1980s parents really did believe this
Note: this post originally had 55 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
I feel like you made the same joke about 5 times, and also some of these are super confusing. You could probably trim this listicle down to ~20 items and have it hit harder by only keeping the best. Just my opinion.
A bit too heavy on the stereotypical beer-drinking, home depot Dad.
Memes are less effective when the image is supposed to be a GIF. I don't mind this list, but it should be done with memes that aren't supposed to be GIFs.
I feel like you made the same joke about 5 times, and also some of these are super confusing. You could probably trim this listicle down to ~20 items and have it hit harder by only keeping the best. Just my opinion.
A bit too heavy on the stereotypical beer-drinking, home depot Dad.
Memes are less effective when the image is supposed to be a GIF. I don't mind this list, but it should be done with memes that aren't supposed to be GIFs.
